Hindi Movie Reviews

Story:

A well knit tale, the story is about Jamal Malik (Dev) who grows up in the slums of Mumbai and has seen some of the most shabbiest things of life. He along with his brother Salim (Madhur) grow up as kids and in this process, Jamal meets up with Latika (Freida) when he is a kid. From then on, she remains in his heart and life takes its own course and due to an incident, Jamal gets separated from his brother and his love. Times change and Jamal is actually on the hot seat contesting for the 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' show being hosted by Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor). Each question that Prem poses, Jamal despite being a guy from the slums is able to answer. Apparently, each question has a connection with his life in some way or the other. While all this happens, Jamal is unable to forget Latika and his efforts to locate her finally succeed when he locates Salim and discovers that Latika is with Javed (Mahesh Manjrekar). So is Jamal successful in his love? Does he become a millionaire? Watch the movie and you will get the answers.

Presentation:

The director has come up with a simple storyline but then the real magic of the film lies in his presentation and the style of narration. The dialogues were straight, the screenplay was top notch, the script was tight without loopholes, music was apt, cinematography was realistic, editing was crisp and the pace of the movie has been quite consistent. Dev has come across with a good performance and has shown the right kind of emotions at various situations. Irrfan Khan as the inspector was suitable, Saurabh Shukla was neat, Anil Kapoor was effective, Madhur was impressive with his dialogues and expressions. Freida looked beautiful and fresh and her eyes convey most of the words. Mahesh Manjrekar was regular. The others did their bit and contributed to the film.

Conclusion:

The film has got a very good connection between the questions and the instances of one's life,that was stitched very well. While the first half of the film goes about with the childhood and pre-teen stages, the second half revolves around a more mature time and a very realistic view of the entire backdrop is shown most of the time. The Indian audience has seen stuff like this before when it comes to the emotional content but then the backdrop is different. The film will appeal a great deal to the international audience and the multiplex folk and the truth is, it does not have any Indian masala or flavor to attract all genres of audience. This is more like an arthouse movie which can attract awards but not crowds.

Bharatstudent Verdict : Straight and sharp, recommended.