Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British drama film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q A by Indian author and diplomat1 Vikas Swarup. Set and filmed in India, the film tells the story of Jamal Malik, a young man from the Juhu slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Accused of cheating and desperate to prove his innocence2, an eighteen-year-old orphan3 from the slums of Mumbai reflects back on his tumultuous life while competing to win 20 million rupees on Indias Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in Danny Boyles inspirational drama. Jamal Malik may not have a penny to his name, but that could all change in a matter of hours. Hes one question away from taking the TOP prize on Indias most popular television game show, but as with everything else in Jamals life, it isnt going to be easy. Arrested by police under suspicion of cheating, Jamal is interrogated4 by the authorities. The police simply cant believe that a common slumdog could possibly possess the knowledge to get this far in the game, and in order to convince them of how he gained such knowledge, Jamal begins reflecting back on his childhood. As young boys, Jamal and his older brother, Salim, lived in squalor, and lost their mother in a mob attack on Muslims. Subsequently forced to rely on their own wits to survive, the desperate siblings5 fell back on petty crime, eventually befriending adorable yet feisty young Latika as they sought out food and shelter on the unforgiving streets of Mumbai. Though life on the streets was never easy, Jamals experiences ultimately instilled6 in him the knowledge he needed to answer the tough questions posed to him on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. And though Jamal makes a convincing case for himself, one question still remains7: why would a young man with no apparent desire for wealth or fame be so determined8 to win big on a national game show? Of course, it wont be long until everyone finds out the answer to this burning question, because as Jamal sits down to find out whether he will be rich beyond his wildest dreams, 60 million viewers remain transfixed to their televisions eager to see if hell correctly answer the final question.
After its world premiere at Telluride Film Festival and later screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival and the London Film Festival, Slumdog Millionaire had a nationwide grand release in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2009 and in the United States on 23 January 2009. It premiered in Mumbai on 22 January 2009.
Slumdog Millionaire was met with near universal critical acclaim9. As of 5 July 2012, Rotten Tomatoes has given the film a 94% rating with 210 fresh and 14 rotten reviews. The average score is 8.2/10. At metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream10 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 sleeper11 hit, Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 2009 and won eight, the most for any film of 2008, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also won seven BAFTA Awards , five Critics Choice Awards, and four Golden Globes.
