Deciphering Bollywood
Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire successfully captures the language of
Bollywood, unlike other western films that end up making a mockery of popular
Indian cinema
BACK TO SECTION STORIES POSTED ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 07, 2008
Aseem Chhabra
Anil Kapoor plays the host of a show in Slumdog Millionaire
Bollywood baffles western audiences. A few filmmakers have attempted to adapt
the tone of Bollywood to their films, but most end up making a mockery of
popular Indian cinema, perhaps barring Baz Luhrmann — who actually captured the
language of Bollywood musicals in his Moulin Rouge!
But now it seems that one filmmaker has finally cracked the Bollywood code.
Danny Boyle, the Manchester-born filmmaker (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later), has
directed Slumdog Millionaire, which has Bollywood written all over it and yet
it is a very western film.
Slumdog Millionaire stars Anil Kapoor (his first English film), Irrfan Khan,
Mahesh Manjrekar, Freida Pinto and a charming young British Indian actor Dev
Patel, in the role of a kid from Mumbai’s slums who wins the top prize on Who
Wants to be a Millionaire? A R Rahman composed the film’s soundtrack.
Last week, I attended the world premiere of Slumdog Millionaire at the
Telluride Film Festival and was complete blown away by the film — with the
energy, colours, rhythm, and the melodrama of Bollywood. Based on the novel
Q&A by Vikas Swarup and a script by Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty), Slumdog
Millionaire is a thoroughly entertaining story about two young Muslim brothers,
who become orphans during the post-Babri Masjid demolition riots and then rise
out of poverty by taking divergent routes — one becoming a criminal and the
other an honest kid (remember all those Amitabh Bachchan-Shashi Kapoor films
from the 1970s?).
With the backdrop of the quiz show (Slumdog Millionaire takes the liberty of
presenting the show in English and not in its Hindi version Kaun Banega
Crorepati), the film explores so many issues that confront India — the
religious and class divide, poverty, corruption, crime and the national
obsession with popular entertainment, while the country moves to become a
global power.
I talked to Boyle in Telluride, standing in queue to see an early morning
screening of Nandita Das’ haunting directorial debut Firaaq. He said he knew
Bollywood cinema well, having watched everything from Subhash Ghai’s Taal, to
his favourites — Black Friday, Satya and Company, long before he committed to
making Slumdog Millionaire.
“We have spent decades in the UK, isolating ourselves from this kind of horror,
madness and insanity that you get in Mumbai every day. So it was a great place
to make the film,” He said.
Khan has a supporting role in the film — a police inspector investigating how a
kid from the slums could get so far ahead on the TV show. And as expected,
Khan, who is often seen in international film projects, gives a sharp
performance. But the real surprise is Kapoor, who plays the charming and yet
slimy host of the show.
I asked Boyle whether he considered casting Bachchan or Shahrukh Khan in that
role. “We talked to SRK initially at one point, but nothing really came out of
it,” he said. “But then I heard that Anil was interested and I jumped at it.
Apart from Amitabh, and disregarding the star status, he (Kapoor) is probably
the best actor in Bollywood. He was wonderful in Taal.”
In making the film, Boyle became friends with Anurag Kashyap. “I rate him very
highly,” Boyle said. “He’s a lovely man and he was a big help in making this
film.” And he also depended a lot on the guidance of his casting director,
Loveleen Tandon. “As we were auditioning, I thought that I would have to have
her at the film throughout the shoot,” he added. “So we have given her the
credit as a co-director.”
“I couldn’t have made the film without her,” he said. “Because you need someone
to say ‘That’s great, but it wouldn’t happen in real life’ and so you have to
make the decision to do it anyway or to let it go.”
