Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire(贫民窟的百万富翁)is a 2008 British film co-directed by Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup. The film is set and filmed in India, After its world premiere at Telluride Film Festival and later screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival and the London Film Festival, Slumdog Millionaire initially had a limited North American release on 12 November 2008, to critical acclaim. It later had a nationwide grand release in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2009 and in the United States on 23 January 2009. The unusual coincidence of the film's arrival in U.S. theaters at the same time as the terrorist action in Mumbai provided an added kicker to the film's box office success. It premiered in Mumbai on 22 January 2009.

Directed by: Danny Boyle 

Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy

Novel: Vikas Swarup

Music by: A. R. Rahman

Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle

Editing by: Chris Dickens

Studio: Celador Films Film4

Distributed by:

United Kingdom: Pathe Pictures

United States/Canada: Fox Searchlight Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures

Australia: Icon Film Distrubution (2009 release)

Release dates:

United Kingdom: 31 October 2008, 9 January 2009 

United States: 12 November 2008, 23 January 2009 

India: 23 January 2009

Running time: 121 min.

Country: United Kingdom

Language: English Hindi

Genre: drama

Jamal Malik, an adolescent orphan, whose family had been killed in a religious pogrom that targeted Muslims in the slums of Mumbai, manages to become a contestant on an American look-alike television program: So you want to be a millionaire? As he deftly answers the questions and proceeds to becoming the millionaire, a suspicious television host convinces the corrupt and prejudiced police to force the youth to confess that he is committing a contrived scam. Jamal Malik, a former street child from the Juhu slums, is tortured by two Mumbai policemen who have him hanging by his hands. In oeder to prove his innocence, he begins to reflect back on his tumultuous life.

Salim and Jamal and their friend Latika, the three children are eventually discovered by Maman while they are living in the trash heaps. Maman is a gangster who pretends to run an orphanage in order to "collect" street children to beg money for him. Salim is groomed to become a part of Maman's operation and is told to bring Jamal to Maman in order to be blinded by acid, since blind beggars typically earn more money. Salim warns Jamal to escape just in time, and they flee, jumping onto a departing train. Latika catches up and takes Salim's hand, but Salim lets go, and she is recaptured by the gangsters.

The two boys make a living travelling on top of trains, selling goods, picking pockets, and pretending to be tour guides at the Taj Mahal. Jamal eventually insists that they return to Mumbai to find Latika. They eventually locate her, discovering that she has been raised by Maman to become a prostitute whose virginity is expected to fetch a high price. The brothers attempt to rescue her. In the resulting conflict, Salim draws a gun and kills him. Salim then gets a job with Javed a rival crime lord. Salim returns to the room where the three are staying, asserts his older brother status, and orders Jamal to leave so that he can have sex with Latika. The shocked and furious Jamal attacks Salim, who draws his gun and threatens to kill his brother. Latika intervenes and tells Jamal to leave.

Years later, Jamal is working as a tea server at an Indian call centre. While covering for a co-worker, he searches the database for Salim and Latika and succeeds in finding Salim, who has become a high-ranking lieutenant in Javed's organisation. When the brothers meet, Salim is remorseful. Jamal then bluffs his way in to Javed's residence, pretending initially to be a cook and then later a dishwasher.
Jamal and Latika have an emotional reunion, but she rebuffs his advances and insists that he forget about her. Instead, Jamal confesses his love for her and promises to wait for her every day at 5 o'clock at the CST station. One day, while Jamal is waiting, Latika attempts to meet with him, but she is recaptured by Javed's men, led by Salim. One of the men slashes her cheek with a knife as Salim drives off with her in his car, leaving Jamal furiously behind. He loses contact with Latika when Javed moves to another house, outside of Mumbai.

After Jamal telling his life story, the police is convinced that he is innocent and realises that he is not in it for the money, allows him to return to the show for the final question.

At Javed's safe house, Latika watches the news coverage of Jamal's miraculous run on the show. Salim, anxious to make amends for his past behaviour, gives Latika his phone and the keys to his car and tells her to go to Jamal. After she leaves, Salim fills a bathtub full of cash and sits in it, waiting for the death he knows will come when Javed discovers what he has done. The last question asked of Jamal is to name the third musketeer in The Three Musketeers. When Jamal uses his last Phone-A-Friend lifeline to call Salim, Latika barely succeeds in answering the phone in time and the two reconnect. She does not know the answer to the final question—the three friends never learned it—but she tells Jamal that she is safe and starts to say "God is with you," but the phone connection cuts off in the middle of her sentence. Jamal provides the correct answer, and wins the grand prize.

Meanwhile, Javed discovers that Salim has helped Latika escape. He and his men break down the bathroom door, and Salim kills Javed, followed by Salim's death at the hand of Javed's men.

Later that night, Jamal and Latika meet at the railway station and share a kiss.

 

 

 

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Dev Patel as Jamal Malik, a boy born and raised in the poverty of Mumbai.

Ayush Mahesh Khedekar as Youngest Jamal

Tanay Chheda as Teenage Jamal

Freida Pinto as Latika, Jamal's love interest.

Rubina Ali as Youngest Latika.

Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar as Teenage Latika

Madhur Mittal as Salim Malik, Jamal's elder brother.

Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail as Youngest Salim.

Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala as Teenage Salim

Anil Kapoor as Prem Kumar, the game show host.

Irrfan Khan as the Police Inspector

Saurabh Shukla as Head 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. Munshi is a child from the Mumbai slums in real life.

Mozhim Shakim Sheikh Qureshi as a crippled slum kid. Qureshi is a child from the Mumbai slums in real life.

David Gilliam as the American tourist at the Taj Mahal

Janet de Vigne as the German tourist at the Taj Mahal.

Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy wrote Slumdog Millionaire(贫民窟的百万富翁)based on novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup. 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  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 hesitated, since he was not interested in making a film about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which was produced by Celador.Then Boyle learned that the screenwriter was Beaufoy, who had written The Full Monty (1997), one of the director's favourite British films, and decided to revisit the script. 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.

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. 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. 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. Filming locations included shooting in Mumbai's megaslum and in shantytown parts of Juhu, so film-makers controlled the crowds by befriending onlookers.Filming began on 5 November 2007.

In addition to Swarup's original novel Q & A, the film was also inspired by Indian cinema. Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan, the host of the final series of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? which aired before filming had begun on Slumdog Millionaire, was initially offered the role of the show's host in the film, but turned it down. The role is played by another Bollywood star, Anil Kapoor.[ 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?

In August 2007, Warner Independent Pictures acquired the North American rights to distribute Slumdog Millionaire theatrically. 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. In August 2008, the studio began searching for buyers for various productions, to relieve its overload of end-of-the-year films. 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.

Following the film's success at the 81st Academy Awards, the film topped the worldwide box office,  grossing $16 million from 34 markets in the week following the Academy Awards. Worldwide, the film has currently grossed over $377 million.

The Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman who planned the score in two months and completed it in two weeks, a far shorter time period than usual. Rahman has stated that he was aiming for "mixing modern India and the old India" with the music, but that the film and soundtrack isn't about India or Indian culture. The story could happen anywhere. The film's director Danny Boyle, who "hated sentiment" and told Rahman "Never put a cello in my film". Rahman appreciated that Boyle liked how Indian films mix music.

The soundtrack has won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, BAFTA Award for Best Film Music, and two Academy Awards, one for Best Original Music Score and the other for Best Original Song for "Jai Ho". The soundtrack has also won two Grammy Awards, one for the album itself and another for the song "Jai Ho".

Slumdog Millionaire(贫民窟的百万富翁)has been critically acclaimed in the Western world. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 86, based on 36 reviews. 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.

"a breathless, exciting story, heartbreaking and exhilarating."

—Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times

"the film world's first globalized masterpiece."

—Wall Street Journal critic Joe Morgenstern

"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."

—Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times

Slumdog Millionaire(贫民窟的百万富翁)has been a subject of discussion among a variety of people in India. Some film critics have responded positively to the film. At the same time, others objected to issues such as Jamal's use of British English or the fact that similar films by Indian filmmakers have not received equal recognition.

"a piece of riveting cinema, meant to be savoured as a Cinderella-like fairy tale, with the edge of a thriller and the vision of an artist." 

—Nikhat Kazmi of the Times of India

"the film didn't work for me" and that "for someone who lives here, the film goes over the top."

—actor and filmmaker Aamir Khan

"a patently ridiculous conceit, the kind of fantasy writing that gives fantasy writing a bad name. It is a plot device faithfully preserved by the film-makers, and lies at the heart of the weirdly renamed Slumdog Millionaire. As a result the film, too, beggars belief."

—Author and critic Salman Rushdie

A Chicago film critic launched an online campaign to demand that Loveleen Tandan, whom Danny Boyle had appointed as co-director for the film, be nominated for Best Director alongside Boyle at the Golden Globes and the 81st Academy Awards. The campaign organizer, Jan Lisa Huttner, noted "how rare it is for female directors to be in the awards race."

Tapeshwar Vishwakarma, a representative of a slum-dwellers' welfare group, filed a defamation lawsuit against the film's music composer A.R. Rahman and actor Anil Kapoor, alleging that grim depiction of slum dwellers violated their human rights. Nicholas Almeida, a social activist working in Mumbai, organized a protest against the film on the grounds that it intentionally exploited the poor for the purposes of profit, also arguing that the title Slumdog Millionaire is offensive, demeaning, and insulting to their dignity. The protesters were Mumbai slum dwellers who objected to the film's title and held up signs reading: "I am not a dog." The Hindu organizations Hindu Janjagruti Samiti(HJS) and Shiv Sena protested against the film for its portrayal of the Hindu God Rama, who appears in the midst of an anti-Muslim riot. An HJS spokesman stated that the film's portrayal of Rama is derogatory.

According to the UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail who played Salim as a child was paid £1,700 during filming, and Rubina Ali who played Latika as a child received £500 for a month's work on the film. The children received considerably less than the Afghan child stars of The Kite Runner, who embarrassed their Hollywood producers when they disclosed that they had been paid £9,000, even though The Kite Runner was far less a box hit. At the end of the movie, both of the child actors continued to live in makeshift shacks in the slums of Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai, according to the The Daily Telegraph and ABC News.

Best Picture
Best Director, Danny Boyle
Best Adapted Screenplay, Simon Beaufoy
Best Cinematography, Anthony Dod Mantle
Best Original Score, A. R. Rahman
Best Original Song - "Jai Ho", A. R. Rahman and Gulzar
Best Film Editing, Chris Dickens
Best Sound Mixing, Resul Pookutty, Richard Pyke, and Ian Tapp

BAFTA Awards record

Best Film, Christian Colson
Best Director, Danny Boyle
Best Adapted Screenplay, Simon Beaufoy
Best Cinematography, Anthony Dod Mantle
Best Film Music, A. R. Rahman
Best Editing, Chris Dickens
Best Sound, Glenn Freemantle, Resul Pookutty, Richard Pyke, Tom Sayers, Ian Tapp

Golden Globe Awards record

Best Picture – Drama
Best Director, Danny Boyle
Best Screenplay, Simon Beaufoy
Best Original Score, A. R. Rahman

Slumdog Millionaire

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