Is Slumdog Millionaire Golden? YES, YES, YES, YES!

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I can’t contain myself, I HAVE to live-blog the Golden Globes. That statement itself might be a spoiler, I know. If you’re on PST, have this isht on DVR or otherwise loathe learning something before you’re supposed to, don’t go past the jump.

[And if you are a Wesssssider, then come on. You’re used to this, so no need to complain…I’m from there, I remember the feeling, but there’s nothing to be done. Except move here. Which is what I did. ;)]

If you’re on the right coast and feel like gettin’ your Mutiny on…party over here!Simon Beaufoy just accepted a Golden Globe award for “Best Screenplay”, for Slumdog Millionaire.

My hasty attempt to transcribe his remarks:

“Thank you very much, Hollywood Foreign Press Association. It’s an absolute honor. We really weren’t expecting to be here in America at all at one time, so it’s just amazing to be standing here. It started with Vikas Swarup who wrote the novel “Q+A” that amazing book about Mumbai, it went to Tessa Ross (?) the cleverest film woman in Britain, who gave it to me, who sent it to a man called Christian Colson, who produced the film and it went through many many other peoples hands, too many to say thank you to, but to all of them, thank you. And finally it got to Danny, there are some people…there are some directors who shoot a screenwriter’s script and there are once-in-a-blue-moon a director who comes along to make it fly and I don’t need to tell you that he made it fly. Thank you Danny, Thank you to Jane, my wife and my children.”

Felicitations to Freida Pinto, who is beautiful– and elated. Sweetly dorky Dev Patel looks dashing in a cutaway collar and I want to kiss him for it– that table is always sadly ignored at my local Thomas Pink. Then again he’s from England, so they’re not terrified of them over there.

Aside: am I hallucinating or are non-brownz wearing desi clothes? I rushed home but missed the first hour, so I did not get to see the red carpet, and thus, no full-length views to confirm. Haven’t seen Freida’s entire dress, either.

Totally unrelated aside: Renee…fire your makeup artist AND your stylist. Ugh, ugh, utterly fug.

::

Annnnd…A.R. Rahman, who is up for “Best Score”, gets his name mangled by Kate Beckinsale/Puffy. A.R. Roomin’? Like, I’m roomin’ with a total slob? Awesome.

I shall overlook such stupidity, however, because I get to transcribe an ACCEPTANCE SPEECH! 😀

“Unbelievable. Uh, I’ve got this long list I thought I won’t win so anyways thanks to the almighty God for bringing me here, Danny Boyle, Kristin from Cellar Door (?), Fox pictures, all my musicians in Chennai, Mumbai, Samuel Long, Karan Grover, M.I.A. for the collaboration Sam Schwartz (?), Allison and the billion people from India. Thanks for all your prayers.”

I’ve never seen him live, so this is mad exciting for me. His happiness and nervous energy are cute. I like his tux, but a mutineer who is here says the tie reminds him of an undertaker’s. That same mutineer is another ABD of Tamizzhrl extraction, who is now mocking me for my inability to understand some of what A.R. ROOMIN’ was saying.

He actually had to translate for me, especially after he heard me mutter, “Karen WHO?” when Karan Grover was what had been uttered. I didn’t even understand M.I.A. the first time I heard it (Em, em, eye, eye, ay, ay…MIA. zomg. Me. Her stalker. I should give back my CDs.)

I am shame spiraling accordingly. Said spiral commenced after hearing, “look at who thinks she’s a gully South Indian, who can’t understand what my Tamil compatriot is saying…”. Oy. Pwned.

Uh, David Duchovny, thanks but no thanks for your INACCURATE clarification?!

“Um, a slight correction, the gentleman who just won the last award his name is A.R. ROOMIN’, I’m told, so…thank you.”

Wtf?

::

Mutineer apsara77 points us to the High Heel Confidential blog, which is currently featuring this picture:

ThankYouHighHeelConfidential.jpg

Hrm. Freida’s dress looks okay from that angle, but I’m not a fan of its view straight-on. Decking those hips with boughs of…chartreuce silk? Why?

::

DANNY BOYLE!!! Well at least they pronounced HIS name correctly. :p

I’ll try and transcribe his thank-you speech soon, but my helpful, remote-control-pausin’-friend ran off to get Five Guys and I can’t do it on my own. No woman is an island. Especially when she’s craving a grilled-cheese with peppers and tomatoes. Live-blogging makes me hungry!

“Listen, thanks ever so much, Golden Globes or the GGs as we very affectionately refer to them. Your mad, pulsating affection for our film is much-appreciated. Really deeply appreciate it. Um, I have to thank Tessa Ross, who has been thanked before and there’s a reason for that, she’s an extraordinary person. I have to thank uh, Peter Rice, from Fox Searchlight, without whom I wouldn’t be here, standing here, absolutely, I have to thank Cellar Door, I have to thank Pathay (?), um there’s so many people to thank, which I know everybody goes on about. I’ve got to thank my agent, Robert Newman, again, without whom I wouldn’t be here. Um, making a film is a family affair obviously, and the people in Mumbai, who are all watching by the way, big shout of love to them and particularly Loveleen Tandon…?…?…and our three musketeers, Tabrez, Pervesh and Sanjay (?) and finally, and most appropriately in this house, to the actors, particularly Anil, Dev and Freida and Madhur (?) and the six, the six young actors who played the other parts in the movie, who were fantastic. Um, I just want to finish by thanking my kids, Grace, Gabriel and Galen and Gail who is their mom and anyway thanks ever so much. Bye-bye.”

I have had to sit here (while starving) smelling fresh, hot cajun fries while typing all that. Never question the sacrifices bloggers make for you. Never. 😉

::

Lesson learned. Never leave a Five Guys grilled cheese to sweat in foil while typing furiously. I was so sad about my mushy sandwich, until I looked up at the screen. Wait. Could it be? Was such a thing even possible?

Was Shah Rukh Khan wearing a sequined tie under his shirt?

Wow.

Maybe wearing it under his shirt is better than over, come to think of it.

::

Wot’s this? An even BETTER distraction from my soggy sandwich?

BEST PICTURE!!!

A standing ovation for the other SM, Slumdog Millionaire. 🙂 Christian Colson accepts the award:

“Come on guys, get up here…Dev. Uh wow, thanks so much to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, that’s quite hard to say after a few martinis. It’s an enormous honor for me to be collecting this on behalf of everyone involved in making this film. Um, I’d like to say a few very big thank yous to a few very big cheeses, first of all, Peter Rice of Fox Searchlight, Jeff Robinoff at Warner Brothers…uh…Paul Smith at Cellar Door films, Tessa Ross at Film Four…uh…???…we couldn’t have had a smarter or more supportive bunch of partners watching over us as we made this film so thanks to all of them. Um, we had the great privilege of working for a fantastic cast and crew in Mumbai who will be going nuts as they watch this tonight, they will be going absolutely mental, so Hello to all of them and we’ll see you next week when we come out for the opening of the film in India next Thursday…uh…and that’s going to be some party, I think. Um, our fantastic cast, Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal and everyone else, all our young cast, Anil and Irfan, Simon Beaufoy who gave us all an incredible opportunity by writing an extraordinary screenplay and the great Danny Boyle, who brought it so miraculously to life. My mum, my dad, my girlfriend for only dumping me once. Thank you very much. Good night.”

Again, I may not have caught every word of the speech, but that should be most of it. FOUR! They won FOUR! Who’s ready to party in the bunker?

::

I love how wiki is already updated with the news. Here’s the list of trophies won:

* Won: Best Motion Picture – Drama
* Won: Best Director – Motion Picture – Danny Boyle
* Won: Best Screenplay – Simon Beaufoy
* Won: Best Original Score – A. R. Rahman
[wiki]

::

I think it’s safe to update the title at this point. So I did.

223 thoughts on “Is Slumdog Millionaire Golden? YES, YES, YES, YES!”

  1. As a boy, he’s depicted as a spunky, rambunctious child. As a young adult, he is quiet and sheepish. He didn’t seem like the same character.

    To be fair, I don’t seem like the same character today as I did even 5 years ago. People evolve.

  2. As a boy, he’s depicted as a spunky, rambunctious child. As a young adult, he is quiet and sheepish. He didn’t seem like the same character
    . To be fair, I don’t seem like the same character today as I did even 5 years ago. People evolve.

    Well of course that’s true. But how and why does and individual evolve? The audience wants to know. As presented, it was just a sudden incongruity. Just a minor complaint about on otherwise great movie.

  3. I saw Slumdog Millionaire today. Boyle has really done a good job with this movie. While the movie deals with the gory details of the underbelly of Mumbai, it doesnt really leave you with a sick feeling. The story feels like a commentary and at the end you just feel good about the whole movie. Very well done I must say.

    The music score by Rehman is amazing, the actors who played junior Jamal and Salim were the real stars. They were simply too good. Freida Pinto had just 15 mins of screen presence. I think she was overhyped.

  4. Saw it. Loved it. Felt like a decent balance between entertainment and glimpse of the real Mumbai as well.

  6. 1) roohman

    2) rammhan

    3) a reminder from the californication douchebag

    still can’t get over them butchering his name, i mean come the f on…

  7. Am I the only one here who was a little put off by the deliberate accents used by our friends, Intense Irrfan and Rotund Shukla? I like the movie, the grittiness of it all even better, but as someone who spent a lot of time walking through or working in the slums at Mankhurd, Govandi, Dharavi, and Mahim feel the movie is written/scripted, directed, “lived in” by folks who’re basically immigrants to Bombay or even third party observers. No fault of the movie that is slightly over the line, as if that were a fault in a Bollywood movie!

    Bravo Boyle, you made a slum of my home city, and you did a great job too! 🙂

  8. I was a bit disappointed. I thought the movie would be about an actual dog from the mumbai slums, that goes on to become a millionaire. I like movies that personify dogs, or animals in general. I loved “Bolt”. In fact, Bolt would have been great for this role. He is a very versatile dog actor. Anyway, perhaps they could have named this movie Slumperson Millionaire, so as not to mislead people. Just a thought.

    To be fair though, I did enjoy watching Freida Pinto. She is very pretty. I love mexican girls.

  11. 212 · MINK said

    1) roohman 2) rammhan 3) a reminder from the californication douchebag still can’t get over them butchering his name, i mean come the f on…

    Thing is, when confronted with a foreign word, one is never sure whether to stress the first syllable or the last one. Also, are the vowels long or short? Or one of each? Pronounciation is not as simple as it seems. So how is it pronounced anyway then like the Noodles as in Top Ramen? That’s my best anyway.

  12. OK what if a gora makes a movie in India showing only financially stable people living in upscale neighborhoods with sparkling clean streets and everyone loving on each other and men treating women as goddesses and happy children playing in beautiful open spaces reveling in feelings of security.

    Would Big B or anybody else cry that this does not represent India accurately and that we need to bring in balance by showing the poor, the downtrodden, the dirty and abused???

  13. obama=slumdog president(rasthrapati). Slumdog millionaire is actually walt disney(the reality is much worse) All NRI’s or MRI ‘s(multiple resident indians) are slumdog millionaires haveing escaped the coop(aka arvind adiga-white tiger.)

  17. The Loveleen Tandan brouhaha (an awareness campaign by film writer Jan Huttner, that Tandan, as credited co-director, should share director awards w Boyle) is still brewing:

    http://www.thehotpinkpen.com/

    See her links to stories in WSJ, WBAI, Huffington Post, Newsweek, and several UK papers.

  19. Comments on Washington Post’s article from yesterday. Looks like the “patriotic” denial and delusion gang is outnumbered here as well. I hope the next movies are about the horrors of widespread child slavery, child prostitution, child hunger and child marriage in India.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/22/AR2009012204082_Comments.html

    Meanwhile in India the Shiv Sena is going around ransacking movie theaters showing Slumdog Millionaire, and the “government” is helpless to do much about it as usual.

  20. India is forced to clean up its inhumane culture. Check out the comments.

    Admit it, you just want to let the Brits back in don’t you?

  22. Poverty is everywhere. You don’t need see a film of poverty in another country. There are several third world areas in the US. Plenty of cruelty, inhumanity, extreme poverty right here. There are tent cities right now in California with no bathroom facilities. Slumdog USA.

  23. I liked Slumdog, okay. Yes (Drekory) it was gritty. But my all-time fav for grit (and heart) is still Salaam Bombay.

    Partly cos it was underfunded, a first such film project for young Mira Nair and Sooni Taraporevala (the scriptwriter), an original project that started in a real community workshop setting.. .and all the other things about homebrown culture that make activist DesiAmericans go “ahhh”. It was something from the motherland that made us activist/artists in the making really feel like hey these desi filmmakers really have a sense of class, hierarchy, and privelege in desi-land and are really doing something with it. Their work (its not just Mira’s film) really paved the way for many desi Am filmmakers and artists. Slumdog is powerful, but it just wont do that, it doesnt have that intimate vibe and the knowlege that the filmmakers really hunkered down and got a story out of the people.

    Talking about getting a story out of the people, stay tuned for something sweet maybe next year. In DC for SALTAF, while watching Sepiamutiny’s Anna on a panel, I was treated to Taraporevala’s new film (screenwriter turned director) Little Zizou. http://www.littlezizouthemovie.com . No its not set in slums, but is set in Mumbai, and gives you a really different, crazy yet mellow view of Mumbai, its Parsi community and so much more. You can tell the director has a deep history with the city.

    With Slumdog, I was overwhelmed, okay in a good way. And I could tell the director had a deep love for the city. But a deep love is a really different thing from a deep history. Thats what I always get from Salaam Bombay. And I cant seem to get that from Slumdog.