Slumdog Millionaire hits the jackpot

FILMS: A hit in the US and film festivals, the flick will come to India in January

Anil Kapoor, back in Mumbai after attending a screening of his new film Slumdog Millionaire in one of the theatres in Los Angeles, shakes his head in disbelief: “At the end of the show, there was a stunned silence which then broke into a roaring applause.”

Little surprise, the actor, who essays the role of a television show host, is eagerly awaiting the release of the film, touted to go to the Oscars too, in India. Unfortunately, Indian audiences will have to wait till January 23, 2009.

Adapted from Vikram Swarup’s novel, Q&A, Slumdog Millionaire was released in just 10 theatres in North America including in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC, Chicago and Toronto on November 12.Still, it has so far grossed a total of $418,131, turning into one of the biggest hits of 2008.

What’s more, the film will now expand into 10 more cities by this weekend and will eventually play in 300 theatres across North America. The release in the UK market will also take place early on January 9.

Not bad at all, especially for a film which was made for $13 million and released after a lot of initial hiccups, especially when the original backer, Warner Independent Pictures, shut down this year. Warner Brothers later contracted with Fox Searchlight to distribute and market the movie in North America.

The film, which essentially revolves around a slum boy from Mumbai who wins prize money of a million dollars at a game show, has been doing the rounds of many prestigious film festivals, including the London Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival where it won the People’s Choice award.

Directed by Danny Boyle, who has made Sunshine, Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, the film’s shooting was anything but easy, says co-director Loveleen Tandan. The film was required to be shot in the slums and streets of Mumbai, something which was impossible to achieve especially as onlookers kept stumbling into the camera frames.

With Dev Patel in the lead as an 18-year-old slum kid who is on the brink of winning big prize money at a game show, the film also stars Indian actors Irrfan Khan and Anil Kapoor. It has music by A R Rahman, with lyrics by Gulzar and tracks sung by playback singer Sukhwinder. Interestingly, to lend authenticity to the script, Slumdog Millionaire has large chunks of scenes that are spoken in Hindi by different characters.

However, the one tiny criticism that has comes its way has been that Patel, despite giving a fabulous performance, does have an accent which doesn’t with fit with his “slum” role. Still, the film continues to do well in different sections of North America. Let’s see if Indian viewers too like it.