Accha accha!

Young Jamal running towards Bollywood star Amibath Bachchan for his signature, covered with shit. - Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight

I know it's super late, but i've just finished watching the Best Picture of the 81st Academy Award - Slumdog Millionaire. Quite an impactful movie, i would say. At least it lets people like me to know more about what's happening in another corner in the world. Illegal orphanage, train jumping, religious riots, pick-pocketing, out-sourcing phone calls. Not sure how much does the film tell us about the real situation of the slums (or known as the shanty towns) in Mumbai, as what TV5 has reported (Yeah, professeur made us watch news in french on TV5): the crime rates in les bidonvilles is 2 to 3%, much lower if were compared to the city area. Pretty sure that many of those have been dramatised in the film, as the story develops along with the gangsterism, brotherhood, love and bien sur, the Millionaire show.

Quick synopsis of the movie: Jamal Malik, an 18year-old chai-wallah (boy who serves tea) took part in the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire show, winning 20 million rupees. Not because he's a genius, but mostly based on what he has been through during his childhood. First one-third of the movie was in Hindi, the rest mostly in English.

Below are the questions Jamal is asked, copy-pasted from Wikipedia

1. Who was the star in the 1973 hit film Zanjeer? (Amitabh Bachchan) (Rs 1.000)
2. A picture of three lions is seen in the national emblem of India. What is
written underneath it? ("Truth alone prevails")
3. In depictions of God Rama, he is famously holding what in his right hand? (A bow and an arrow) (Rs 16.000)
4. The song "Darshan Do Ghanshyam" was written by which famous Indian poet? (Surdas)[8] (Rs 250.000)
5. On an American one hundred dollar bill, there is a portrait of which American statesman? (Benjamin Franklin) (Rs 1.000.000)
6. Who invented the revolver? (Samuel Colt) (Rs 2.500.000)
7. Cambridge Circus is in which UK city ? (London) (Rs 5.000.000)
8. Which cricket player has scored the most first class centuries? (Jack Hobbs) (Rs
10.000.000)
9. In Alexandre Dumas' book The Three Musketeers, two of the musketeers are called Athos and Porthos. What was the name of the third Musketeer? (Aramis) (Rs 20.000.000)

Giving him the 20 million cheque, and a fairytale ending where he found his love, Latika. The movie ends with a typical Bollywood scene:


Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight

which reminds me of Sunday afternoons where Pa would switch on the TV to watch Hindi movies and i sit down to join.

Anyway, being a picky person I am.
1. Why the characters are so fluent in English even though they received so little education? - Apparently this was explained in the novel which the movie is based on.
2. Why would Jamal give USD100 to the child beggar as he is not really that rich? - ah. so that the story can flow huh.
3. How did Jamal know who invented the revolver by just seeing his brother killed Maman using it?

Hmm hmm. and finally the most impactful scene from the movie for me:

A child dressed like God Rama in Hindus belief. staring at Jamal and Salim with his shocked eyes when they were running from the riot which killed their mum.
PS: I reflected the image horizontally as it is claimed that Rama gives blessing using his right hand thus holds the bow with his left hand.

Accha means Good, Okay, I understand, Oh really?, Listen up... and Oh la la in Hindi. Yes. Six different meanings with different intonations.