Book Review: Q&A (re-branded as Slumdog Millionaire)

Okay, the thing about watching a movie based on a novel for me is this - chances are (predictably and almost consistently so), I would have liked the book better. With the exception of Lord of The Rings (I'm sorry but I really found it hard to go through pages and pages of the Hobbits sprouting lyrics on everything under the sun), most of the movies that were based on books like The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, and the more recent Marley and Me and multiple award-winning Slumdog Millionaire for example, fell short to its namesake. While they were no doubt entertaining films, fans of the book would have expected... more.

After the recent success of the movie Slumdog at the Oscars, I naturally felt compelled to watch it, and have to say I definitely enjoyed it. I wasn't raving about it like most people, but it was nevertheless entertaining. The child actors were a joy, there were laughs, moments of sadness, and a plot that kept you wanting to know what happens next. Knowing it was adapted from a book, I naturally then decided to read the original version. The book wasn't too hard to find. Originally named Q&A, the book has since been re-titled for better market positioning. The branding bothered me a little. It all felt a little gimmicky, but I bought it and read it nonetheless. And then I was truly bothered.

For aside from the format of the questions, and the main character delving into his past to explain how he knew the answers to the questions of the game show, the entire story was completely different from the movie. This confused me for the first three chapters to no end, as I kept trying to draw similarities between the movie I had just seen, and the words I was now reading. An example would be how the protagonist, who had an older brother in the film, is an orphan in the book. And he was in fact, older than the guy, which in the movie he played younger brother too. Throw in the fact that no scenario or question asked in the game show was the same. I kept trying to make sense of it, until I finally decided to read the book as a story of its own, before I begin to enjoy it tremendously.

I don't know why the movie was made that way. Perhaps it was to include the ubiquitous love story. After all, every story has to have a heroine right? A beautiful girl on screen to attract the lads, otherwise it will just be another international film no one cares about. And beautiful she certainly was. Except in the book, she didn't even appear until the last few chapters. And the story wasn't revolved around her. And the protagonist didn't spend his entire life (unlike the movie) trying to find her again.

The book had a depth and a feeling, that was to me, lost in the movie. Page after page, I was riveted. His mis-adventures were more real, more painful, more lonely somehow - even though he was all of that in the movie too. His ambition was driven by more than love. His past, filled with narrow escapes only propelled him forwards with more strength and courage. And through it all, his personality shone through. He was earnest, street-wise, innocent, likeable, and always, unassumingly profound. He learned from his experiences, but was prone to making the same mistakes. And you ended the book, feeling like you've lived a thousand lives. The movie just ended with a signature Bollywood Song and dance.

My take on this is obvious - if you've read the book and haven't seen the movie, expect it to be a completely different story. And if you've done it the other way around like I have, read the book, forget about the movie, and you'll fall more in love with the main character. Ram Mohammad Thomas made you laugh in the movie. In the book, he made you think.