Sean Callahan
HUMN- 391
Prof. Sundar
04/15/2011
Slumdog Millionaire Cinematic Analysis
This paper will analyze a scene from Slumdog Millionaire (2008), an Indian film, directed by Danny Boyle which won much praise and many awards. The nine second shot where Jamal (Ayush Mahesh Khedekar) confronts Salim (Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail) in the marketplace shortly after Salim sells Jamal’s autographed photograph of the most famous man in India, Amitabh Bachchan (Feroze Khan) will be the focus of this paper. This scene is the first time in which we see Salim act with what seems to be no regard toward others, his brother in this case, and with selfish intentions.
The shot opens with Jamal and Salim in an apparently busy marketplace. The back drop of the market and people is softer and less in-focus. This tells us that what is going on in the background is not terribly important outside of the frame of reference of where they are. The shot is a close up shot and focused on the two boys from roughly belly button up at a level plane to the ground. The focus on the two brothers, Salim and Jamal, tells us that they are the important pieces of this shot. The lighting of the market place and people in it is dark which gives the viewer the sense that it is night time. This perhaps tells us that Salim sold his brother’s picture the night after it was signed by the famous television star. The darker setting also makes the scene seem more serious and brings a heavier tone to the shot. The two boys are lighted decently well by possibly an overhead street lamp which also helps brings focus on the two boys in relation to the rest of the scene. Salim is wearing an oversized yellow cut off shirt with black stripes while Jamal is wearing a white tank top. The larger shirt makes Salim look bigger as he is the older brother but more importantly the dominant one of the two. The two are also wearing what appear to be matching necklaces. They are standing facing each other and seem to...