Slumdog Millionaire

I was working in the cinema, pouring 250 glasses of wine for the guests attending the event screening of Slumdog Millionaire, each guest sipped at the wine before entering the cinema, before the film a person came on stage and encouraged audience members to use the toilets now so not to interrupt the film, it was a strange request, but it was stranger that many patrons took the advice, surely if they needed to go they should have before they entered the cinema in the first place, Danny Boyle was supposedly somewhere in the cinema, he might have even been the one to make this strange request, I saw him some weeks earlier, discussing his career, I had also seen the film earlier, at the London Film Festival, hooked by the immediate energy that the film kicks off with, a chase that explores the slums of Mumbai, near the airport, slums I remember flying over coming into the city, and remember finding remarkable for their density of people, earlier I had predicted to Elena that it would be the feel good film of the year and upon watching I was glad that I was right, I don’t like to be wrong, like most people, the performances of the child actors (Ayush Mahesh Khedekar and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail) were outstanding, perfectly capturing the energy and lust of life that defines the nation of India, qualities mirrored in the film’s music, it was a surprise than, that at this 250 wine glass event, a woman came out from the cinema, loudly complaining about some of the darker parts of film, why should this film, advertised as a family film, contain characters who would harm children, the cinema staff and I wondered to each other what she would except from a film concerning those deep in poverty in a developing country, she left before even giving a chance for these characters to overcome, she left missing the point of any Indian film, that people can overcome, and they can dance, so as the film ended at this event, I went into the cinema to watch my favourite part again, the Bollywood dance scene with the end credits, and I felt good.