What's in a name?

After falling in love with the movie at the Toronto Film festival, Roger Ebert's admiration for Slumdog Millionaire remains unabated even as it gears up for a possible run at the Oscars. Giving the movie a coveted 4 star rating, Roger Ebert says:

Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" hits the ground running. This is a breathless, exciting story, heartbreaking and exhilarating at the same time, about a Mumbai orphan who rises from rags to riches on the strength of his lively intelligence. The film's universal appeal will present the real India to millions of moviegoers for the first time.

The real India, supercharged with a plot as reliable and eternal as the hills. The film's surface is so dazzling that you hardly realize how traditional it is underneath. But it's the buried structure that pulls us through the story like a big engine on a short train.

(...)

On the other hand, the world's largest middle class, mostly lower-middle, but all the more admirable. The India of "Monsoon Wedding." Millionaires. Mercedes-Benzes and Audis. Traffic like Demo Derby. Luxury condos. Exploding education. A booming computer segment. A fountain of medical professionals. Some of the most exciting modern English literature. A Bollywood to rival Hollywood.

I am looking forward to seeing the movie when it gets released in a wider setting later this month. This movie appears to be one of those rare situations when the movie is superior to the book. (I have previously blogged about the book and movie here).