I saw a video recently where a character actor was almost in tears because this movie got banned in India and it really pulled at my heartstrings. I honestly thought I was up for a treat and I was ready to become a diehard fan of Dev Patel but boy was I wrong. As the movie unfolded it started getting so stereotypical and boring that I found myself checking the time every five minutes. Dev boy you have a lot to learn from Danny Boyle because even Slumdog Millionaire had more soul than this chaotic mess.
This movie rightly deserves to be banned for showing India in such a bad light and the direction is all over the place. Dev does a Slumdog Millionaire character again but this time he is trying to be Hanuman or whatever and it just does not land. It seems to be made entirely for a British audience so that they can feel good about themselves seeing how people in India live in such a murky place. The whole thing screams poverty porn and it feels like he just took all the worst clichés about India and packed them into one film.
Halfway through I had to quit because this movie was so cheaply stereotypical like James Bond's Octopussy. You have the dusty slums and the corrupt politicians and the spiritual mumbo jumbo all mixed together without any real depth. It is just violence for the sake of violence and it tries so hard to be deep with the religious symbolism but fails miserably. I really wanted to support a fellow Indian making it big in Hollywood but not like this.
We need movies that show the real progress of India and not just the same old gritty underworld stories that Westerners love to consume. If you want to watch a good action movie just stick to our local cinema because at least they know how to entertain without selling out the culture.
Do not waste your time on this one because it is nothing but a disappointment wrapped in a fancy package. My verdict - La me'.
