'Slumdog Millionaire' review

Dev Patel and Freida Pinto (Credit: Ishika Mohan/Fox Searchlight)

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18-year-old orphan Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is one question away from winning 20 million rupees, the top prize on India’s version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” But doubts over how he made it that far lead to his interrogation by a police Inspector (Irrfan Khan) and flashbacks to Jamal’s years as a child (played by Ayush Mahesh Khedekar) and adolescent (Tanay Hemant Chheda) in the slums of Mumbai.

The buzz: Just like Jamal, it seems like this movie could hardly have better luck. When its original distributor, Warner Independent, folded earlier this year the future looked bleak. But indie standout Fox Searchlight (“Juno,” “Once,” “Little Miss Sunshine”) quickly claimed the movie as its own and planned a significant Oscar campaign following a successful film festival run that included an audience award win at the Toronto fest.

The verdict: Director Danny Boyle combines the gritty surrealism of “Trainspotting,” the issues of money and morality in “Millions,” and the free range camerawork of “28 Days Later” for a thrilling cinematic experience from a filmmaker in peak form. “Slumdog Millionaire” is pure movie magic—pulsing with life, oozing authenticity and so drunk on romance that it simply has to end with an exuberant musical number. Jamal’s journey (dubbed “bizarrely plausible” by the Inspector) from the overcrowded slums to the flashy TV studio, manages the miraculous trick of feeling regionally specific but emotionally universal. That should make the movie a box office millionaire, many times over.

Did you know? Although Boyle had never been to India before making this movie, he had plenty of help in getting up to speed on the culture—including cast members primarily from Mumbai and a co-director, casting director Loveleen Tandan, who translated for the Hindi-speaking performers.

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