The hype is over the top and this movie is overrated. It is a well-made movie, but it is not remarkable. Neither is it earth-shattering, and it didn't blow me out of the water like I was expecting it to. The story is a feel-good one, but the plot has many holes in it.
Given that it is not the standard Bollywood masala movie, such holes need addressing, such as: how did he get on the show in the first place? a minor allusion wasn't sufficient. I've seen many a good Hindi movie that have the Bombay underworld depicted far more graphically, so this was all small potatoes. And as for the big surprise ending that's being talked about, I didn't think it was anything but predictable.
See Anil Kapoor's Parinda for a great story about surviving (or not) in the drug mafia of Mumbai, and that's one story of a heart-wrenching romance with a twisted ending that will leave you in a puddle. 'Crash' from a few years back also did the same. But, I'm sorry to say Slumdog didn't do that for me.
And Dev Patel's quasi-British accent was a tad annoying– I mean if you're from the slum, you gotta sound like it, even in English! So, yeah, go see it if you can't wait for the DVD.
Final note: the cinematography gets higher marks than the storyline.
