Slumdog Millionaire

It's been a while since I had a great movie night until I went to see Slumdog Millionaire.
Yes People- do believe the hype!

This is one of the best movies in a VERY long time.

Before Christmas , I saw the poster trailers of the movie being displayed across the red London buses but didn't take much notice of it. I thought it was just another Bollywood movie.

It wasn't until a friend posted the film trailer on his site which made me want to watch the movie.


The Bayswater crew and I decided to watch the movie at the Everyman Cinema at Hampstead with its comfy two seater couches. I love this cinema-we can get drinks and snacks ordered and brought to us before the movie starts. Due to the lack of parking spaces in the area we didn't have time to enjoy the pre cinema experience but we're hoping to go there again for the next outing -Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie which will come out next week.



Returning back to Slumdog Millionaire movie- it was directed by Danny Boyle who has directed a wide range of movies from 28 days later to Trainspotting to name but a few.


The main cast were not A-listers but this movie is truly magnificient. It is based on a book written by Vikas Swarup about a boy from the slums of Mumbai called Jamal who is on the verge of winning 20 million rupees in the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire but is caught by the police for alleged cheating on the show.

The show goes through a series of flashbacks of his life as he answers each question in the show. The movie focuses on the life for Jamal, Salim (his brother) and Latika (Jamal's love).
It gives us an insight of the way of life living in the slums of Mumbai. As the director describes the slums-it is a thriving environment which is constantly changing in its unique enterprising way.

The real stars of the show for me were the slum kids who played Jamal, Salim and Latika's character when they were kids. These were real slum kids who had been picked by the casting director.
The good thing I found coming out of this movie is these slum kids are now been taken in by charitable organisations and will hopefully be able to grow up and able to achieve their aspirations and dreams. A proportion of the box office takings are going towards setting up a Foundation to help the slum kids of Mumbai.
So please do not go download this movie or buy pirated Dvds because the money you spend in the cinema is actually going to a worthy cause.

The scenery of India is truly maginificient in this movie -the film crew had a tough time filming through the crowded streets of Mumbai but the results were truly spectacular.

Here's a trailer of the movie- Go watch it if you haven't already!
I love this track too by M.I.A