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Winner of four Golden Globe awards and ten Oscar nominations, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ has been produced at a budget of seven million pounds.
It has so far collected six million pounds at the UK box office and 40 million dollars in USA.
Vijay Singh, CEO of Fox Star studio which has distributed the film in India said that there were 250 paid previews of the film prior to its release.
"There was an overwhelming response, he said.
He said ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and its dubbed Hindi version ‘Slumdog Crorepati’ starring Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Dev Patel, Freida Pinto has been released with 400 prints.
"In smaller towns, the demand for Hindi version has been huge," he said adding that the film has opened to a positive response all over the country.
Kumar Mohan, editor of trade magazine ‘Complete Cinema’ said that ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was a director's film.
"It is a visual delight and technically very well made," he said adding that the film had good prospects at the box office.
Film critic Taran Adarsh said the film depicts life on the mean streets of Mumbai and saw no reason why the effort should be ridiculed just because it has been made by a Westerner.
"It is a love story and is dark and gory at places. But, it offers a ray of hope for those who have been plain unlucky when it comes to materialistic things of life and love," he said.
Shruti, who saw the film on Friday morning felt that the story was an exaggerated depiction of reality in a Mumbai slum.
"The synchronization of the game show and portraying the life of the protagonist and how the story transgresses back and forth is very interesting," she said adding that a Mumbai slum-dweller could relate to the story of the film.
College going students who watched the film at suburban multiplexes felt the child actors were a treat to watch.
"The film is okay. The morning shows were not houseful considering the ten Oscar nominations it has got including that of ace music composer A R Rahman," they said.
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I think that the movie is good.It shows the bad light of India to several people and also shows the discrimination.As for me it is the super hit movie and i've watched it a couple of times.
This movie provides a horrible view of slums and poverty. It implies somehow that poor people are treated badly by all Indians and implies that Indian teachers and parents beat children. In contrast, it shows Westerners as wonderful and gullible people. For so many years, Indians have struggled with the stereotype of poor naked people with no education, wife beaters and snake charmers. Since I came to United States, I have constantly have had people talk to me about sati and burning brides as if it happens on every street corner. With the rise of the IT industry, we are slowly trying to move away from that stereotype and this movie reinforces the worst of the stereotypes. It is disheartening to the Indian spirit. How do we expect people to have hope and strive for progress when we see them as all covered in shit? The last time I was in Mumbai, 2 years ago, I saw young people moving away from begging to trying to sell things. This shatters all that optimism and effort to change.
i do not understand why is that you say it is exaggerated picture of poverty, probably you had visited mumbai in a restricted way. not covering up all... ..I think the movie has no intention of proving anything about slums, its just an awesome story line acted by genius upon by a fantobulous director and co director..putting together a master piece to be looked upon for year... Simply awesomeeeee....... great work SDM team...I will be watching it more than twice.. Hi,Just got a call from Jaun N , Riata.The issue with the emails is fixed, It was due to server failure of Barracuda email filer.He wanted me to convey that to you as well.ThanksSandeep
It may be profitable and fashionable to depict our country as a slum, but why are the movie makers marketing it as 'real India' even in India? Do they want all Indians to believe that the whole of India is one huge slum? India is a predominantly a rural country still, and rural does not mean slum. Both the slums and the Metros are minority stuff. If somebody wants to portray 'real India' then from the perspective of numbers, they may depict rural life in India! And if someone wants to depict a slum, then they can depict a slum and call it the 'slums of India', that will be fine. It is utterly misleading to prepare a hotch-potch fiction around a slum and tout it as 'real India' both within India and outside India. This is plainly ANTI-NATIONAL.
The reality is the people in slums live like dogs. Would any middle class or upper class want to live in Dharavi? I'll tell you what is insulting - having a second class in trains - thats is humiliating and an insult to people - it automatically means that you are a second class citizen.
I agree with you. The name 'second class' may be directly borrowed from british raj. We need to call it economy class or something.
I think the movie is perfect and wouldn't like anything changed. I loved it simply as a commercial entertaining cinema. It is bound to he a super-hit in India and anybody will see it, me more than a couple of times. I'm already planning to see the English version as well to get a full measure of Rahman's music.