Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers.

Directors:

Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan

Writers:

Simon Beaufoy (screenplay), Vikas Swarup (novel)

Stars:

Dev Patel, Saurabh Shukla, Anil Kapoor

Top 250 #196 | Won 8 Oscars. Another 114 wins & 62 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dev Patel	...	Older Jamal
Saurabh Shukla	...	Sergeant Srinivas
Anil Kapoor	...	Prem
Rajendranath Zutshi	...	Director (as Raj Zutshi)
Jeneva Talwar	...	Vision Mixer
Freida Pinto	...	Older Latika
Irrfan Khan	...	Police Inspector
Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail	...	Youngest Salim
Ayush Mahesh Khedekar	...	Youngest Jamal
Jira Banjara	...	Airport Security Guard (as Hira Banjara)
Sheikh Wali	...	Airport Security Guard
Mahesh Manjrekar	...	Javed
Sanchita Choudhary	...	Jamal's Mother
Himanshu Tyagi	...	Mr Nanda
Sharib Hashmi	...	Prakash

Storyline

The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's Kaun Banega Crorepati? (Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?) But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions. Each chapter of Jamal's increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show's seemingly impossible quizzes. But one question remains a mystery: what is this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on ...

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Plot Keywords:

question | cheating | slum | millionaire | 2000s | 

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Taglines:

What does it take to find a lost love? A. Money B. Luck C. Smarts D. Destiny

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence, disturbing images and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [fr]

Country:

UK

Language:

English Hindi French

Release Date:

23 January 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Quisiera ser millonario

Filming Locations:

Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,827,457 (UK) (9 January 2009)

Gross:

$141,319,195 (USA) (22 May 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Celador Films, Film4, Pathé Pictures International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup wrote his debut novel 'Q and A' after he was inspired by Professor Sugata Mitra's "Hole in the Wall" experiment, which set up computer kiosks in Indian slums so that anyone could use them and have access to the Internet. The novel was then adapted into the screenplay of Slumdog Millionaire. The Hole in the Wall experiment has gone on to become Hole in the Wall Education Limited (HiWEL), which has 300 kiosks available to over 300,000 children in India and several African countries.

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Goofs

When Jamal is at the front gate of Javed's house and is telling the guard that he is the new dishwasher, his shirt changes from a dark patterned long-sleeved button-up shirt to a lighter blue short-sleeved button-up shirt. When Jamal enters the house, he is wearing the long-sleeved shirt again.

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Quotes

Prem Kumar: A few hours ago, you were giving chai for the phone walahs. And now you're richer than they will ever be. What a player!
Prem Kumar: Ladies and gentlemen, what a player!
[audience applauds]

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Crazy Credits

Several of the cast perform a traditional Bollywood song and dance number set in a train station over the end credits.

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Connections

References Millionaire: A Major Fraud (2003)
Inspector theorizes a coughing accomplice in the audience" as Major Charles Ingram had on 10 September 2001 British competition

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Soundtracks

"Aaj Ki Raat"
Music by Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa
Lyrics by Javed Akhtar
Performed by Sonu Nigam, Mahalakshmi Iyer (as Mahalakshmi) and Alisha Chinoi
Published by and courtesy of Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series)

User Reviews

Good movie, Highly overrated

I FULLY AGREE that it is a good movie, no doubt about it, but it is highly overrated. If u people like this, there are 100s of other Indian Movies that are made much better than this(Both old and NEW). As for Rahman's music, it is GREAT (again no doubt). But this is definitely not his best. Pls go hear "dil se" and u'll know what i am talking about! Compare this movie to previous Oscar winners like American beauty, and well, u'll know wat i mean.

Verdict : To everyone who has still not seen the film, It's definitely a one time watch. Good music,Good story and Good (kind hearted if i may add) cast and crew. But i request you to watch it with an open mind. And by the way, Mumbai is not just a "slum area". :-)