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Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan.[2] It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A (2005) by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup. Set and filmed in India, Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of a young man from the slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Kaun Banega Crorepati in the Hindi version) and exceeds people's expectations, thereby arousing the suspicions of the game show host and of law enforcement officials.

After its world premiere at Telluride Film Festival and subsequent screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival and the London Film Festival,[3] Slumdog Millionaire initially had a limited North American release on 12 November 2008 by Fox Searchlight Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, to critical acclaim and awards success. It later had a nationwide grand release in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2009 and in the United States on 23 January 2009.[4] It premiered in Mumbai on 22 January 2009.[5] It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on 31 March 2009.[6]

Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 2009 and won eight, the most for any film of 2008, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Original Song. It also won five Critics' Choice Awards, four Golden Globes, and seven BAFTA Awards, including Best Film. Slumdog Millionaire has stirred controversy concerning language use, its portrayals of Indians and Hinduism, and the welfare of its child actors.

Set in 2006, the film opens in Mumbai with a policeman torturing Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a former street child from the Juhu slums. In the opening scene, a title card is presented: "Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it? (A) He cheated, (B) He's lucky, (C) He's a genius, (D) It is written." Jamal is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Kaun Banega Crorepati) hosted by Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor). He has already won 10,000,000 rupees (about US$200,000) and has made it to the final question, for 20,000,000 rupees, scheduled for the next day. Following up on a tip-off from Prem Kumar, the police now suspect Jamal of cheating, because the other possibilities — that he has a vast knowledge, or that he is very lucky — seem unlikely. For almost every question, Jamal had a life experience that enabled him to answer it.

Jamal then explains that, while at least the question about Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan was very simple, he knew the answers of most questions by chance, because of things that happened in his life, conveyed in a series of flashbacks documenting the details of his childhood. This includes scenes of him obtaining Bachchan's autograph, the death of his mother during anti-Muslim violence (rekindling memory of the 1993 anti-Muslim attacks in Mumbai in the slums),[7] and how he and his brother Salim befriended Latika (Rubina Ali). He refers to Salim and himself as Athos and Porthos, and Latika as the third of the The Three Musketeers, the name of whom they never knew.

In Jamal's flashback, the children are eventually discovered by Maman (Ankur Vikal) while they are living in the trash heaps. Maman is a gangster (a fact they do not actually know at the time they meet him) who pretends to run an orphanage in order to "collect" street children so that he can ultimately train them to beg for money. Salim is groomed to become a part of Maman’s operation and is asked to bring Jamal to Maman in order to be blinded (which would improve his income potential as a singing beggar). Salim protects his brother, and the three children try to escape, but only he and Jamal are able to do so, catching up to a train which is departing. Latika catches up and takes Salim's hand, but Salim purposely lets go, and she is left behind as the train accelerates away.

The brothers make a living, traveling on top of trains, selling goods, picking pockets, and cheating naive tourists at the Taj Mahal by pretending to be tour guides. Jamal eventually insists that they return to Mumbai since he wishes to locate Latika, which annoys Salim. They eventually find her, discovering that she had been raised by Maman to be a culturally talented prostitute whose virginity will fetch a high price. The brothers attempt to rescue her, but Maman intrudes, and in the resulting conflict Salim draws a gun and kills Maman. Salim then uses the fact that he killed Maman to obtain a job with Javed (Mahesh Manjrekar), a rival crime lord. Salim returns to the room where the three were staying and orders Jamal to leave. Jamal, knowing his brother is here to claim Latika as his own, attacks his brother violently before being overturned by Salim and confronted by a revolver as Salim threatens to kill him. Latika intervenes and tells Jamal to leave, breaking his heart and sacrificing herself to keep him safe. With Maman's men searching for Salim, Salim and Latika flee to an unknown location, leaving Jamal alone to fend for himself.

Years later, Jamal has a position as a "chai wallah" (tea server) at a call center. When he is asked to cover for a co-worker for a couple of minutes, he searches the database for Salim and Latika and succeeds in getting in touch with Salim, who has become a high-ranking lieutenant in Javed’s organization. Jamal confronts a regretful Salim on tense terms. Jamal asks him where Latika is. Salim, annoyed and bewildered that his brother still cares about her, responds she's "long gone." Salim invites Jamal to live with him, and after Jamal follows him to Javed's house, he sees Latika (Freida Pinto) there, and she also notices him. He bluffs his way in, pretending initially to be a dishwasher and then later a chef. Jamal and Latika have an emotional reunion, but elation quickly turns to despair after Jamal discovers that Latika is with Javed. Upon discovering this, Jamal tries to persuade Latika to leave. She rebuffs his advances and insists that he forget about her and leave, but instead Jamal confesses his love for her and promises to wait for her every day at 5 p.m. at Mumbai's largest train station, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (C.S.T.), until she comes. One day, while Jamal waits there, Latika attempts to rendezvous with him, but she is recaptured by Salim and Javed's men. Javed slashes her cheek with a knife as Salim drives off, leaving a furious Jamal behind with a crowd of onlookers.

Jamal again loses contact with Latika when Javed moves to another house outside of Mumbai. In another attempt to find Latika, Jamal tries out for the popular game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, because he knows she'll be watching. He makes it to the final question, despite the hostile attitude of the host who feeds Jamal a wrong answer during a break. At the end of the show, Jamal has one question left to win two crore, or 20 million rupees (about 400,000 U.S. dollars), but the host calls the police and Jamal is taken into police custody, where he is tortured as the police attempt to learn how he, a simple "slumdog," could know the answers to so many questions. After Jamal tells his whole story, explaining how his life experiences coincidentally enabled him to know the answer to each question, the police inspector calls Jamal's explanation "bizarrely plausible" and, knowing he's not in it for the money, allows him to return to the show for the final question.

At Javed's safehouse, Latika watches the news coverage of Jamal's miraculous run on the show. Salim gives Latika his phone and the keys to his car. He urges her to run away and to "forgive him for what he has done." The final question asked of Jamal is to name the third musketeer in the story of The Three Musketeers. When Jamal uses his Phone-A-Friend lifeline to call Salim, Latika barely succeeds in answering the phone in time and they reconnect. She does not know the answer to the final question, but she tells Jamal that she is safe and (in unsubtitled Hindi) says "I am yours" before the phone connection cuts off. Jamal simply guesses the correct answer (Aramis) to the question of the one musketeer whose name they never learned, and wins the grand prize. Simultaneously, Salim is discovered to have helped Latika escape and allows himself to be killed in a bathtub full of money after shooting and killing Javed. Salim's last words are "God is great." Later that night, Jamal and Latika meet at the railway station and they share a kiss. It is then revealed that the correct answer to the opening question is "D) it is written," implying that it is destiny. During the closing credits, Jamal and Latika — along with dozens of bystanders and even the juvenile versions of themselves — dance in the C.S.T. train station to the song "Jai Ho," the title of which epitomizes victory.

Differences from the book Q & A

In the book, the story is told to his lawyer, rather than the police. The Bombay Hindu-Muslim riots play no role in the book, as the ethnic or religious heritage of the main character is uncertain. In the book, the central character is instead named 'Ram Mohammad Thomas' by the village elders, choosing a Hindu name, Muslim name, and Christian name to maintain the balance among all the religious communities after his mother abandons him at birth. Ram grows up in an orphanage, and his only 'brothers' are his fellow orphans; Salim is his best friend. He was adopted by a Christian priest as a youth, which is how he learns English, and then is nearly molested by a visiting priest. The priest scenes are not included in the film script, and the movie does not explain how Jamal learns fluent English. Latika is not his childhood friend in the book but rather a prostitute named Nita with whom Ram falls in love when he visits a brothel at age 17.

Production

Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy wrote Slumdog Millionaire based on the Boeke Prize-winning and Commonwealth Writers' Prize-nominated novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup.[8] To hone the script, Beaufoy made three research trips to India and interviewed street children, finding himself impressed with their attitudes. The screenwriter said of his goal for the script: "I wanted to get (across) the sense of this huge amount of fun, laughter, chat, and sense of community that is in these slums. What you pick up on is this mass of energy."

By the summer of 2006, British production companies Celador Films and Film4 Productions invited director Danny Boyle to read the script of Slumdog Millionaire. Boyle initially hesitated, since he was not interested in making a film about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which was produced by Celador.[9] However, Boyle soon found out that the screenwriter was Beaufoy, who had written The Full Monty (1997), one of the director's favorite British films, and decided to revisit the script.[10] Boyle was impressed by how Beaufoy wove the multiple storylines from Swarup's book into one narrative, and the director decided to commit to the project. The film was projected to cost US$15 million, so Celador sought a U.S. distributor to share costs. Fox Searchlight Pictures made an initial offer that was reportedly in the $2 million range, but Warner Independent Pictures made a $5 million offer to win rights to the picture.[9]

Gail Stevens came on board to oversee casting globally. Stevens had worked with Boyle throughout his career and was well-known for discovering new talent. Meredith Tucker was appointed to cast out of the US. The film-makers then travelled to Mumbai in September 2007 with a partial crew and began hiring local cast and crew for production in Karjat. Originally appointed as one of the five casting directors in India, Loveleen Tandan has stated that she "suggested to Danny and Simon Beaufoy, the writer of Slumdog, that it was important to do some of it in Hindi to bring the film alive [...] They asked me to pen the Hindi dialogues which I, of course, instantly agreed to do. And as we drew closer to the shoot date, Danny asked me to step in as the co-director."[11] Boyle then decided to translate nearly a third of the film's English dialogue into Hindi. The director fibbed to Warner Independent's president that he wanted 10% of the dialogue in Hindi, and she approved of the change. Filming locations included shooting in Mumbai's megaslum and in shantytown parts of Juhu, so film-makers controlled the crowds by befriending onlookers.[9] Filming began on 5 November 2007.[12]

In addition to Swarup's original novel Q & A, the film was also inspired by Indian cinema.[13][14] Tandan has referred to Slumdog Millionaire as an homage to Hindi commercial cinema, noting that "Simon Beaufoy studied Salim-Javed's kind of cinema minutely."[13] Boyle has cited the influence of several Bollywood films set in Mumbai.[15] Satya (1998) (screenplay co-written by Saurabh Shukla, who plays Constable Srinivas in Slumdog Millionaire) and Company (2002) (based on the D-Company) both offered "slick, often mesmerizing portrayals of the Mumbai underworld" and displayed realistic "brutality and urban violence." Boyle has also stated that the chase in one of the opening scenes of Slumdog Millionaire was based on a "12-minute police chase through the crowded Dharavi slum" in Black Friday (2004) (adapted from S. Hussein Zaidi's book of the same name about the 1993 Bombay bombings).[14][16][17][18] Deewaar (1975), which Boyle described as being "absolutely key to Indian cinema," is a crime film based on the Bombay gangster Haji Mastan, portrayed by Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, whose autograph Jamal seeks at the beginning of Slumdog Millionaire.[14] Anil Kapoor noted that some scenes of the film "are like Deewaar, the story of two brothers of whom one is completely after money while the younger one is honest and not interested in money."[19] Boyle has cited other Indian films as influences in subsequent interviews.[20][21] The rags-to-riches, underdog theme underlying the film was also a recurring theme in classic Bollywood movies from the 1950s through to the 1980s, when "India worked to lift itself from hunger and poverty."[22] Other classic Bollywood tropes in the film include "the fantasy sequences" and the montage sequence where "the brothers jump off a train and suddenly they are seven years older".[21]

Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan, the host of last episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati (the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?) aired prior to the release of this movie, was initially offered the role of the show's host in the film, but he ultimately turned it down (the role is played by another Bollywood star, Anil Kapoor).[23][24][25] Paul Smith, the executive producer of Slumdog Millionaire and the chairman of Celador Films, had previously owned the international rights to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?[26]

Cast

• Dev Patel as Jamal Malik, the protagonist, a Muslim boy born and raised in the poverty of Mumbai.[27] Boyle considered hundreds of young male actors, and he found that Bollywood leads were generally "strong, handsome hero-types." Boyle's daughter pointed Dev Patel out from the British television ensemble drama Skins, of which he was a cast member.[9][12]
  • Ayush Mahesh Khedekar as Younger Jamal
  • Tanay Chheda as Early Teenage Jamal
• Freida Pinto as Latika, the girl with whom Jamal is in love. Pinto was an Indian model who had not starred in a feature film before.[9] Regarding the "one of a kind" scarf she wears, designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb says, "I wanted to bookend the journey—to tie her childhood yellow dress to her final look."[28]
  • Rubina Ali as Younger Latika. Rubina is a child from the Mumbai slums in real life.[29]
  • Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar as Early Teenage Latika
  • Madhur Mittal as Salim, Jamal's elder brother.
    • Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail as Younger Salim. Azharuddin is a child from the Mumbai slums in real life.[29]
    • Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala as Early Teenage Salim
    • Anil Kapoor as Prem Kumar, the game show host. Boyle initially wanted Indian actor Shahrukh Khan to play the role, but things didn't work out. Khan is the real life host of the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Kapoor has also starred as a guest on the show with Amitabh Bachchan and won Rs 5,000,000. [30]
    • Irrfan Khan as the Police Inspector
    • Saurabh Shukla as Constable Srinivas
    • Mahesh Manjrekar as Javed
    • Ankur Vikal as Maman
    • Rajendranath Zutshi as the Millionaire show producer
    • Sanchita Choudhary as Jamal's mother
    • Shah Rukh Munshi as a slum kid. Shah Rukh is a child from the Mumbai slums in real life.[22]
    • Mozhim Shakim Sheikh Qureshi as a crippled slum kid. Mozhim Shakim is a child from the Mumbai slums in real life.[29]
    • Janet de Vigne as the German tourist at the Taj Mahal.
    • Devesh Rawal as the boy in costume as the God Rama, painted blue.

    Release and box office performance

    In August 2007 Warner Independent Pictures acquired the North American rights and Pathé the international rights to distribute Slumdog Millionaire theatrically.[12] However, in May 2008, Warner Independent Pictures was shut down, with all of its projects being transferred to Warner Bros., its parent studio. Warner Bros. doubted the commercial prospects of Slumdog Millionaire and suggested that it would go straight to DVD without a U.S. theatrical release.[31] In August 2008, the studio began searching for buyers for various productions, to relieve its overload of end-of-the-year films.[32] Halfway through the month, Warner Bros. entered into a pact with Fox Searchlight Pictures to share distribution of the film, with Fox Searchlight buying 50% of Warner Bros.'s interest in the movie and handling U.S. distribution.[33]

    Following the film's success at the 81st Academy Awards, the film topped the worldwide box office (barring North America), grossing $16 million from 34 markets in the week following the Academy Awards.[34] Worldwide, the film has currently grossed 326,000,000 (aprox).[1]

    North America

    Slumdog Millionaire was first shown at the Telluride Film Festival on 30 August 2008, where it was positively received by audiences, generating "strong buzz".[35] The film also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2008, where it was "the first widely acknowledged popular success" of the festival,[36] winning the People's Choice Award.[37] Slumdog Millionaire debuted with a limited North American release on 12 November 2008, followed by a nationwide release in the United States on 23 January 2009.[38]

    After debuting on a Wednesday, the film grossed an impressive $360,018 in 10 theaters in its first weekend, a strong average of $36,002 per theater.[39][40] In its second weekend, it expanded to 32 theaters and made $947,795, or an average of $29,619 per theater, representing a drop of only 18%.[39] In the 10 original theatres that it was released in, viewership went up 16%, and this is attributed to strong word-of-mouth.[41] The film expanded into wide release on 25 December 2008 at 614 theaters and grossed $5,647,007 over the extended Christmas weekend.[38] Following its success at the 81st Academy Awards, the film's takings increased by 43%,[42] the most for any film since Titanic.[43] In the weekend of 27 February to 1 March, the film reached its widest release at 2,943 theaters.[1] As of 31 March 2009, the film has grossed $139,341,484 at the North American box office.[1]

    Europe

    The film released in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2009, and opened at #2 at the UK box office.[44] The film reached #1 in its second weekend and set a UK box office record, as the film's takings increased by 47%. This is the "biggest ever increase for a UK saturation release," breaking "the record previously held by Billy Elliot's 13%." This record-breaking "ticket surge" in the second weekend came after Slumdog Millionaire won four Golden Globes and received eleven BAFTA nominations. The film grossed £6.1 million in its first eleven days of release in the UK.[45] The takings increased by another 7% the following weekend, bringing the film's gross up to £10.24 million for its first seventeen days in the UK,[46][47] and up to £14.2 million in its third week.[48]

    As of 20 February 2009, the film's UK box office gross was £22,973,110,[49] making it "the eighth biggest hit at UK cinemas of the past 12 months."[50] As of 2 March 2009, following its success at the 81st Academy Awards where it won eight Oscars, the film has returned to #1 at the UK box office, grossing £26 million as of 2 March 2009.[51]

    The film's success at the Academy Awards led to it seeing large increases in takings elsewhere in Europe the following week. Its biggest single country increase was in Italy, where it was up 556% from the previous week. The takings in France and Spain also increased by 61% and 73% respectively. During the same week, the film debuted in other European countries with successful openings: in Croatia it grossed $170,419 from 10 screens, making it the biggest opening there in the last four months; and in Poland it opened in second place with a gross of $715,677. The film was released in Sweden on 6 March 2009 and in Germany on 19 March 2009.[34]

    Asia-Pacific

    In India, the premiere of Slumdog Millionaire took place in Mumbai on 22 January 2009 and was attended by major personalities of the Indian film industry, with more than a hundred attending this event.[52] A dubbed Hindi version, Slumdog Crorepati (स्लमडॉग करोड़पति), was also released in India in addition to the original version of the film.[53] Originally titled Slumdog Millionaire: Kaun Banega Crorepati, the name was shortened for legal reasons. Loveleen Tandan, who supervised the dubbing, stated: "All the actors from the original English including Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan and Ankur Vikal dubbed the film. We got a boy from Chembur Pradeep Motwani to dub for the male lead Dev Patel. I didn't want any exaggerated dubbing. I wanted a young unspoilt voice."[54]

    Fox Searchlight released 351 prints of the film across India for its full release there on 23 January 2009.[55] It earned Rs. 2,35,45,665 in its first week at the Indian box office,[56] or $2.2 million according to Fox Searchlight. Though not as successful as major Bollywood releases in India during its first week, this was the highest weekend gross for any Fox film and the third highest for any Western release in the country, trailing only Spider-Man 3 and Casino Royale.[55] In its second week, the film's gross rose to Rs. 3,04,70,752 at the Indian box office.[56]

    A few analysts have offered their opinions about the film's performance at the Indian box office. Trade analyst Komal Nahta commented, "There was a problem with the title itself. Slumdog is not a familiar word for majority Indians." In addition, trade analyst Amod Mehr has stated that with the exception of Anil Kapoor, the film lacks recognizable stars and that "the film ... is not ideally suited for Indian sentiment." A cinema owner commented that "to hear slum boys speaking perfect English doesn't seem right but when they are speaking in Hindi, the film seems much more believable." The dubbed Hindi version, Slumdog Crorepati, did better at the box office, and additional copies of that version were released.[57] Following the film's success at the 81st Academy Awards, the film's takings in India increased by 470% the following week, bringing its total up to $6.3 million that week.[34] As of 15 March 2009, Slumdog Crorepati has grossed Rs. 15,86,13,802 at the Indian box office.[58]

    The film's success at the Academy Awards led to it seeing large increases in takings elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region. In Australia, the takings increased by 53%, bringing the film up to second place there. In Hong Kong, the film debuted taking $1 million in its opening weekend, making it the second biggest opening of the year there. The film was released in Japan on 18 April 2009, South Korea on 19 March 2009, China on 26 March 2009, Vietnam on 10 April 2009[34], and 11 April 2009 in Philippines.

    Critical reception

    Awards and honors

    Slumdog Millionaire is highly acclaimed, named in the top ten lists of various newspapers.[59] On 22 February 2009 the film won eight out of ten Academy Awards for which it was nominated, including the Best Picture and Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song (two songs were nominated from the film; "Jai Ho" won the award), losing only Best Sound Editing to The Dark Knight. It is only the eighth film ever to win eight Academy Awards[60] and the eleventh Best Picture Oscar winner without a single acting nomination.[61]

    The film also won all four of the Golden Globe Awards for which it was nominated, including Best Drama Film; five of the six Critics' Choice Awards for which it was nominated; and seven of the eleven BAFTA Awards for which it was nominated, including Best Film.

    Reactions from the Western world

    Slumdog Millionaire has been critically acclaimed in the Western world. As of 16 April 2009, Rotten Tomatoes has given the film a 94% rating with 193 fresh and thirteen rotten reviews. The average score is 8.2/10.[62] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 86, based on 36 reviews.[63] Movie City News shows that the film appeared in 123 different top ten lists, out of 286 different critics lists surveyed, the 3rd most mentions on a top ten list of any film released in 2008.[64]

    Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film four out of four stars, stating that it is, "a breathless, exciting story, heartbreaking and exhilarating."[65] Wall Street Journal critic Joe Morgenstern refers to Slumdog Millionaire as, "the film world's first globalized masterpiece."[66] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post argues that, "this modern-day "rags-to-rajah" fable won the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year, and it's easy to see why. With its timely setting of a swiftly globalizing India and, more specifically, the country's own version of the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" TV show, combined with timeless melodrama and a hardworking orphan who withstands all manner of setbacks, "Slumdog Millionaire" plays like Charles Dickens for the 21st century."[67] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times describes the film as "a Hollywood-style romantic melodrama that delivers major studio satisfactions in an ultra-modern way" and "a story of star-crossed romance that the original Warner brothers would have embraced, shamelessly pulling out stops that you wouldn't think anyone would have the nerve to attempt anymore."[68] Anthony Lane of the New Yorker stated, "There is a mismatch here. Boyle and his team, headed by the director of photography, Anthony Dod Mantle, clearly believe that a city like Mumbai, with its shifting skyline and a population of more than fifteen million, is as ripe for storytelling as Dickens’s London [...] At the same time, the story they chose is sheer fantasy, not in its glancing details but in its emotional momentum. How else could Boyle get away with assembling his cast for a Bollywood dance number, at a railroad station, over the closing credits? You can either chide the film, at this point, for relinquishing any claim to realism or you can go with the flow—surely the wiser choice."[69] Several other reviewers have described Slumdog Millionaire as a Bollywood-style "Masala" movie,[70] due to the way the film combines "familiar raw ingredients into a feverish masala"[71] and culminates in "the romantic leads finding each other."[72]

    Other critics offered more mixed reviews. For example, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film three out of five stars, stating that "despite the extravagant drama and some demonstrations of the savagery meted out to India's street children, this is a cheerfully undemanding and unreflective film with a vision of India that, if not touristy exactly, is certainly an outsider's view; it depends for its full enjoyment on not being taken too seriously." He also pointed out that the film is co-produced by Celador Films, who own the rights to the original Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and claimed that “it functions as a feature-length product placement for the programme.”[73][74] A few critics also panned it. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle states that, "Slumdog Millionaire has a problem in its storytelling. The movie unfolds in a start-and-stop way that kills suspense, leans heavily on flashbacks and robs the movie of most of its velocity.... [T]he whole construction is tied to a gimmicky narrative strategy that keeps Slumdog Millionaire from really hitting its stride until the last 30 minutes. By then, it's just a little too late."[75] Eric Hynes of IndieWIRE called it "bombastic", "a noisy, sub-Dickens update on the romantic tramp's tale" and "a goofy picaresque to rival Forrest Gump" in its morality and romanticism.[76]

    Reactions from India and the Indian diaspora

    Slumdog Millionaire has been a subject of discussion among a variety of people in India and the Indian diaspora.

    Controversies

    Slumdog Millionaire has stirred controversy on a few topics including its portrayals of Indians and Hinduism and the welfare of its child actors.

    Soundtrack

    The Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman, who planned the score for over two months and completed it in two weeks.[77] Rahman won the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and won two out of three nominations for the Academy Awards, including one for Best Original Score and one for Best Original Song. The song "O... Saya" got a nomination shared with M.I.A., and the song "Jai Ho" won the Oscar, which A. R. Rahman shared with lyricist Gulzar. The soundtrack was released on M.I.A.'s record label N.E.E.T. On Radio Sargam, film critic Goher Iqbal Punn termed the soundtrack Rahman's "magnum opus" which will acquaint "the entire world" with his artistry.[78]

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It was okay

Malik (Patel) goes on a TV game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire in
the hope that his long lost love Latika (Pinto) sees him and still
cares. The setting is India.If the powers that be wanted a FEEL GOOD movie to win Best Picture they
got their wish. It was okay. I wouldn't have nominated it for Best
Picture (it won for that), and I certainly wouldn't have nominated the
Director for the Best Director Award (it won for that too). (Don't hold back Bob, tell us how you really feel)The beginning of this movie was confusing. I had no idea what was going
on, the scenes shifted so fast and the sub-titles came and went with
the wind. The sub-titles were too small, often yellow on a gold
background and they didn't stay on the screen too long even if they
weren't yellow on gold. I never did take that speed reading course. Oh,
and get this: the sub-titles were not always in the same place, like on
the bottom of the picture where sub-titles usually are. No, you had to
look for them depending on who was speaking. Creative, but annoying.
Also, the Nervous Camera was much in evidence quite a bit in the
beginning. And, a lot of the scenes were dark like it was always night
time. I almost shut it down.But, I figured out the key and just let everything go and then half of
the movie came around and things began to make sense and, thank God,
things slowed down so we could all understand what was going on. Sort
of. And, the sub-titles went way, good riddance. And, you will (like
me) figure out all the answers to the questions put to Malik on the
show. Very clever, I must say. Really clever. Reminded me of The Usual
Suspects (great movie, btw).But, here is the KEY for those of you who really try to follow
everything in the beginning: THIS IS A LOVE STORY. As long as you know
that and you remember the names Malik and Latika, that is all you
really need to know. Don't bother to memorize anything else. You'll
hurt yourself like I did. The music from time to time was very good (won for Best Original Score
and for Best Original Song).Why everyone went ga ga over this is beyond me. It's okay. The acting
all around is excellent, but ga ga? No way. I guess the other nominated
movies weren't of the Feel Good ilk. And, we want to feel good, don't
we? Huh?Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: I really didn't hear
anything, but they talked so fast……………

(bob-rutzel-1) from United States - 7 May 2009

Flawless

I find that even if there is a lot of violence and a lot of
coincidences, this film is a masterpiece: it is the movie of the
year.It shows the reality of the chaos in India but the happy end with
the Bollywood scene, humour and heartbreak is like in a fairy tale.
That is why there is an unlikely and an unrealistic part. And without
all the coincidences (all the questions have a link with Jamal's life)
We can not make the film. This movie is a visuual wonder to : It
engrosses you in the story until the end and the music is wonderful but
beyond the beauty of the pictures , the characters honesty hits you
right in the face.Actors and actresses' performances are amazing.In
conclusion the plot is good the way the film has been shot is genius
and the actors are perfect the high number of reviews about SM shows
the important impact of this film and that is why , it deserves all the
recognition it got. This movie is a mixture of light and darkness and
it is a family film with shocking brutality though. Contrasts make its
originality and success. It is a master piece, there is no cheating 8
Oscars were the destiny of the film.

alexandre-sarazin from France - 4 May 2009

Definitely worth all the awards it got!

I have to say that I didn't like this movie at first. I was half-way
through the book when I watched the movie. I didn't get a chance to see
it in theaters and I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. I
decided that I really wanted to see the movie before I finished the
book. I bought the movie and watched it that night. Now the reason why
I say that I didn't like it at first was because the book was
completely different from the movie.After maybe ten or fifteen minutes into the movie, I completely
disregarded what I read and actually watched it as a movie and stopped
comparing. I found it to be so great, they made a real slum look so
beautiful. This was definitely worth watching and I love it.If you read the book first, don't compare it. It is what will ruin a
movie for ya. I do recommend that anyone that has seen the movie, they
should read the book. The book is amazing, just like the movie!

Mandi49505 from United States - 4 May 2009

over-hyped senseless mess

I hated 'The English Patient', hated 'Benjamin Button', and I advise
the director to take his Oscar and do what Jamal did when he was locked
in that toilet as a kid… then ask your mommy to wash it all off.This is a disturbing film, definitely not for kids. The torture
scene… well, why would someone playing WWTBAM be tortured by electric
shock? He throws up blood, is beaten, etc. And then, all seems well, as
he is served coffee and has no scars. huh? Did I say HUH?Yes, the real India is shown. It is indeed mostly slums. But you know
vat boyz & girlz?! So is most of Mexico, Brazil, Africa, China,
Romania, Albania, etc. Watch a PBS documentary on the world's slums
instead. Overpopulation is to blame, specifically in South America,
Africa, Asia, especially in China and India.Now how is it that ugly dark kids turn out to be tall handsome bleached
personages? Oh ye, and they do speak English quiet well, don't they?Where did Salim get the gun to shoot Maman? Why did he shoot the
gangster in the end and throw all that $$$ in the tub, and where did
the $$$ come from?How in the wide world of alien cattle mutilations did Jamal end up on
the show in the first place? What imbecile doesn't know the 3rd
Musketeer was Aramis?What's with the dancing in the end? Is it supposed to signify
something? Oh yes, Jamal and Latika walk off into the sunset to live
out their lives in bliss and happiness. Got it.

TheTerminatorsky from United States - 4 May 2009

Game Show Contestant Jamal Malik uses answers from the hardships of his life to win twenty million rupees and find the girl he lost years ago

When I popped the DVD Slumdog Millionaire (2009) into my DVD player I
wasn't sure what I was expecting, but it sure wasn't this. What I saw
was a very emotional, inspiring and message filled movie. Directors
Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tanden certainly knew what they were doing
when putting this cinematic feature together and credit is also due to
the screen writer Simon Beaufoy. The theme is a mixture of the
importance of love and perseverance in the harsh world we live in. You
see the more harsh side of life that exists in every country but more
just have turned a blind eye to it.The movie starts out with Jamal Malik, played by Dev Patel, being
interrogated for being suspected of cheating on the popular game show
"Who Want to be a Millionaire?" And the question is asked, "Jamal Malik
is just one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do
it? A. He cheated B. He's lucky C. He's a genius D. It is destiny"
After watching him being tortured for a bit he is placed in a chair in
an office, where him and two officers watch the show and each question
they ask him how he knew the answer. Each question brings back a memory
from his life in the slums of India, some are good memories, but mostly
there are sad ones.The shots used to transition from the present of him being questioned,
to the show and then on to the flashbacks are brilliant. Through the
television screen till you're on the state as one of the cameras
filming the show, and from there you see him close his eyes in
remembrance or gaze into the distance, you hear the sounds from the
scene before the scene itself comes into focus. You are introduced to
Jamal and his older brother Salim, played by Madhur Mittal as an adult,
when they are little kids and are being played by Ayush Mahesh Khedekar
(Jamal), Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (Salim). They are the musketeers,
causing mischief and trouble where ever they go in the slums, whether
it's playing on landing strips and out running cops, or charging people
to use bathrooms near the beach.During one of the flashbacks there is a fight and the boys' mother is
killed. They find a little girl by the name of Latika, played as a
child by Rubina Ali, alone and at first they outcast her on Salim's
orders, but once Salim is asleep Jamal invites here in and befriends
her. She becomes the third musketeer to their ranks. Latika and Jamal
grow very close and even though they get separated as children he never
forgets her. In fact he makes a point of going and finding her when
they are teenagers, and finding her again when they were adults. He
loves her more than anything and she's the reason he got on the game
show, he knew she'd be watching it.The manipulation of time as they grow up makes the movie flow quite
well and keeps the storyline going. When they transition from being
kids to teenagers they are rolling down a hill after being thrown off a
train. You see them slowly age through the flying dirty as they roll
and yelp. Then when they sit up they are now teenagers and the Taj
Mahal is standing before them in the distance. The next age jump from
teenager to adult is a jump of time span. Years that went by where not
much happened.As the movie nears its climax you see that Jamal has become a symbol to
all 'slumdogs'. He made the show, he's answered every question correct
and thousands of people gather around any television set that is
available to them to watch this man, who has suffered much go from
having nothing to having millions. When all he really wants in the end
is to be with the girl he loves the most.I would most definitely say that this movie, through its capturing of
the pain, the happiness, the sadness, earned all eight Oscars it won
out of the ten it was nominated for. At the end I was moved by it. I
was sitting right there with all the other Indians rooting for him to
win, him to show that even a slumdog can know the answers, have
knowledge, become some one and achieve something in the world. Then in
the end, he achieves the only goal he's ever truly had: To be with
Latika. Definitely earned a thumbs up from me for those who like
inspirational movies that don't involve a lot of action but contain a
lot of meaning. Life teaches us the answers to the questions we are
asked. So the answer at the end is "D. It is Destiny".

themaeyu from United States - 4 May 2009

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