by Shazanna Safdar-Karim

From the get go this film will grab you. Powerful opening scenes demand the audience’s attention within seconds. Boyle’s name may be familiar to you from works such as Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later and Sunshine. His latest creation, based upon the novel, Q&A by Vikas Swarup, will not disappoint.

Exposing the gritty underworld of India, the film explores the alleged fraud of Jamal, a young slumdog well on his way to winning 20 million rupees on Who Wants to be a Millionaire in India. En route to powering through the Indian game show, Jamal also captures the nation’s heart.

Winning the top prize is a feat even the well educated and wealthy have rarely attained, hence the suspicion as to how a relatively uneducated young man who has lived hand to mouth and now works as a Chai Wala (Tea Server) is so close to succeeding. As the police interrogate Jamal (Dev Patel) in stereotypical Indian style, he is cast back from childhood to modern day explaining his ability to answer almost every question.

Jamal and his brother Salim, are orphaned as young children, their mother killed in religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims. As they befriend a homeless girl, Latika, the trials and tribulations of the self proclaimed Three Musketeers begin. Haunting images of children being tortured to earn more money as disfigured beggars will prove difficult to shake. Jamal and Salim could not be more different, one, a naïve and honest believer of fate; the other, a hardened and untrustworthy boy who true to form evolves into a gangster.

In fact, multiple scenes are likely to be challenging to watch for those not acclaimed with desperate poverty, graphic torture and the dark side of India. Boyle superbly balances these striking images with hilarious scenes which will have you roaring with laughter, including the extreme lengths young Jamal must go to in order to see his hero, the big B. Jamal is locked in an open bottomed toilet which empties into a field, by his brother. When Amitabh Bachchan’s helicopter descends, faced with only one way out, Jamal must decide whether to miss a glimpse of Amitabh, or jump down into the toilet contents to escape.

The film has already picked up several awards and is billed to win several more, potentially including the Oscars. There is no doubt that Boyle’s directorship (and co-direction by Loveleen Tandon) is a success. It would, however, be remarkable if the performances by Dev Patel and Anil Kapoor are not as highly acclaimed.

Dev, a British actor, accurately depicts a nervous, sincere and honest young man – to a more extreme degree than some of his work in Channel Four’s Skins. Unexpectedly, his local Indian accent is also credible.

Anil Kapoor pulls off the role as a dark quizmaster, and leaves you guessing whose side he is really on. Perhaps the best performances are those of the young children “acting” as slumdogs, this could be ascribed to Boyle’s confession that some of the actors he used were street children in real life. Again, ringing home the more sinister issues the film addresses.

Woven throughout the plot is a less credible love story. In true Bollywood style the heroin matures from a scrawny darker skinned child to a svelte fair skinned young woman with looks of a catwalk model. In fact, actress Freida Pinto who plays the adult Latika was once signed to Elite Model Management in India and has fronted several major campaigns including Wrigleys and De Beers.

Pinto’s acting is solid but far from exceptional, although not overly embellished she brings a dash too much of glamour to the role which detracts from the overall atmosphere of the film.

As the film reaches conclusion, the cringe worthy choreographed dance routine is a phenomenal anti climax, whilst it might please the typical Bollywood film fan, it undermines the drama and intensity of what precedes.

As with numerous films which are based on novels, audience members who have read the book in advance may be disappointed. Whilst the film deals with many of the issues raised in the novel, not everything can be captured in two hours.

Certainly, Swarup will be pleased with the acknowledgment in the titles, more pleasing will be Boyle’s supreme competence in bringing so many varied themes fate, poverty, torture, the underworld and hope.

An absolutely honest, cutting and rather haunting must-see!