Slumdog Millionaire – 2008 | 120 mins | Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

The ever versatile Danny Boyle helms this Simon Beaufoy adapted screenplay of Vikas Swarup’s novel “Q & A” and leaves his distinctive visual stamp on.  The dazzling film is an emotionally-charged romantic fairytale shot entirely in India and imbued with a gritty sense of realism. The almost Dickensian story focuses on impoverished Indian teen Jamal, who is accused of cheating on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and during a police gruelling interrogation, and in flashbacks relates the story of his upbringing and the two key characters in his life: his brother Salim and the object of his undying affection, Latika. Dev Patel and Freida Pinto produce surprisingly innocent performances whilst the remainder of the supporting cast shines.

Jamal Malik (Patel), an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating;how could an illiterate and uneducated street kid know so much?

Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slums where he and his brother Salim (Madhur Mittal) grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika (Pinto), the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the gameshow’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 the game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out…