Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

A Mumbai teen reflects on his upbringing in the slums when he is accused of cheating on the Indian Version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"

Directors:

Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan (co-director)

Writers:

Simon Beaufoy (screenplay), Vikas Swarup (novel)

Stars:

Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Saurabh Shukla

Won 8 Oscars. Another 144 wins & 126 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dev Patel	...	Older Jamal
Saurabh Shukla	...	Sergeant Srinivas
Anil Kapoor	...	Prem
Raj Zutshi	...	Director
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? (2000) (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 ...

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Plot Keywords:

television show | india | papadum | contestant | underdog | 

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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

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence, disturbing images and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [France]

Country:

UK USA France Germany India

Language:

English Hindi French German

Release Date:

25 December 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Quisiera ser millonario

Filming Locations:

India

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$360,018, 16 November 2008, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$141,319,928

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$377,910,544

Company Credits

Production Co:

Celador Films,Film4,Warner Bros.

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

The sequence of answers to the game show questions should be "A, B, C or D". In several scenes, the actual sequence can be seen alternating between "ABCD" and "ADCD"

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Quotes

Middle Jamal: [seeing the Taj Mahal] Is this heaven?
Middle Salim: You're not dead Jamal.
Middle Jamal: What is it? Some hotel?

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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

Referenced in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Episode #4.1 (2009)

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Soundtracks

Paper Planes
Written by M.I.A. (as Mathangi Arulpragasam), Topper Headon, Mick Jones,
Diplo (as Wesley Pentz), Paul Simonon and Joe Strummer
Performed by M.I.A.
Published by Imagen Music, Hollertronix, Domino Publishing Company Ltd., Universal Music Publishing Ltd.,
Nineden Ltd.
Courtesy of XL Recordings Ltd. and Interscope
Under licence from Universal Music Operations Ltd.

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". :-)