Slumdog Millionaire
Would you please retell the story briefly?
 Do you like the story? What has impressed
you deeply in the story?
 What does the story reflect according to you?
 Which one do you prefer, Juno, Forrest
Gump or Slumdog Millionaire?

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.
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Put the following events in time
sequence.
i. Latika’s attempts to rendezvous(约会) with Jamal
h. returning to Mumbai and rescuing Latika
c. traveling on top of trains
e. obtaining a superstar's autograph
f. the death of his mother during the Hindu antiMuslim violence
b. pretending to be tour guides at the Taj Mahal
g. cheated and collected by a gangster
a. Jamal and his brother Salim’s befriending Latika
d. serving as an assistant at a call center
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British film directed by Danny
Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India
by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the Boeke Prizewinning(南非最佳平装书波克奖South Africa’s Exclusive
Books Boeke Prize 2006) and Commonwealth
Writers‘ Prize(2006年英联邦最佳处女作奖 Best First Book
by the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize )-nominated 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 (Bombay) who
appears on the Indian TV program of Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire? and exceeds people's expectations, arousing
the suspicions of the game show host and of law
enforcement officials.
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After its world premiere (首映) at Telluride Film
Festival and subsequent 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 by
Fox Searchlight Pictures and Warner Bros.
Pictures, to critical acclaim(称赞) 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. It premiered in
Mumbai on 22 January 2009.
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Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for ten
Academy Awards in 2009 and won eight, the
most for any film of 2008, including Best
Picture and Best Director. It also won five
Critics' Choice Awards, four Golden Globes,
and seven BAFTA Awards, including Best
Film. Despite the film's success, it is the
subject of controversy concerning its
portrayals of Indians and Hinduism(印度教)
as well as the welfare of its child actors.
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Directed by Danny Boyle Loveleen Tandan
Produced by Christian Colson
Written by Simon Beaufoy
Starring Dev Patel Freida Pinto Madhur Mittal Tanay Chheda
Ayush Mahesh Khedekar Azharuddin Ismail
Rubina Ali
Anil Kapoor Irrfan Khan
Music by A. R. Rahman
Cinematography(摄影 ) Anthony Dod Mantle
Editing by Chris Dickens
Studio Celador Films Film4
Running time 120 min.
Country United Kingdom
Language English Hindi (北印度语)
Budget $15 million
Gross revenue $268,103,477
Distributed by Pathé Pictures International
(UK/Europe)
Fox Searchlight Pictures (US/Canada)
Warner Bros. Pictures
 Release date(s)
12 November 2008 (US, limited)
18 December 2008(Australia)
25 December 2008 (US, wide)
9 January 2009 (UK)
23 January 2009 (India)
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2009 Academy Awards
Won: Best Picture
Won: Best Director – Danny Boyle
Won: Best Original Score – A. R. Rahman
Won: Best Original Song – "Jai Ho", by A. R. Rahman (music) & Gulzar
(lyrics)
Won: Best Adapted Screenplay – Simon Beaufoy
Won: Best Cinematography – Anthony Dod Mantle
Won: Best Film Editing – Chris Dickens
Won: Best Sound Mixing – Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke, Ian Tapp
Nominated: Best Sound Editing – Tom Sayers (lost to The Dark Knight)
Nominated: Best Original Song – "O... Saya", by A. R. Rahman & M.I.A.
(lyrics)
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2009 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards.
Won: Best Film
Won: Best Director – Danny Boyle
Won: Best Adapted Screenplay – Simon Beaufoy
Won: Best Film Music - A.R. Rahman
Won: Best Cinematography - Anthony Dod Mantle
Won: Best Editing - Chris Dickens
Won: Best Sound - Glenn Freemantle, Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke,
Tom Sayers, Ian Tapp
Nominated: Outstanding British Film
Nominated: Best Leading Actor – Dev Patel
Nominated: Best Supporting Actress - Freida Pinto
Nominated: Best Production Design - Mark Digby, Michelle Day
2009 Golden Globe Awards
 Won: Best Motion Picture - Drama
 Won: Best Director - Motion Picture - Danny
Boyle
 Won: Best Screenplay - Simon Beaufoy
 Won: Best Original Score - A. R. Rahman

The film appeared on critics' top ten lists of
the best films of 2008 for 31 times.
 2008
77 awards 23 nominated
4 runner-up
 2009
24 awards 9 nominated
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Plot
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Set in 2006, the film opens with a notorious(臭名昭著的)
scene in Mumbai, torturing Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a
former street child from the Dharavi 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." At the end of the film, the answer
is given. Jamal is a contestant(参赛者) on the Indian
version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? hosted by
Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor) in which he was on the show
and won 20,000,000 rupees. Jamal has made it to the
final question, scheduled for the next day, but thanks to a
tip-off(举报) from the host, the police are now accusing
him of cheating, because the other possibilities, that he
has a vast knowledge, or that he is very lucky, both
seem unlikely.

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. This is
conveyed in a series of flashbacks documenting the
particulars(详情) of his childhood. This includes scenes of
him obtaining Bachchan's autograph, the death of his
mother during the Hindu(印度人; 尤指印度北部的印度斯坦
人(信奉印度教)) anti-Muslim violence, rekindling(重新点燃 )
the memory of the 1993 anti-Muslim attacks in Mumbai by
Hindu nationalists in the slums, and how he and his brother
Salim befriend(帮助) Latika (Freida Pinto) (he refers to
Salim and himself as Athos and Porthos, and Latika as the
third Musketeer(火枪手).)
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The children are eventually discovered by Maman (Ankur
Vikal) while they live in the trash heaps. Maman is a
gangster (a fact they do not actually know at the time they
meet him) who “collects” street children so that he can
ultimately train them to beg for money. Salim is groomed(训
练) 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 Salim and Jamal are able to do so. Salim
purposely lets go of Latika's hand as she tries to board a
train they are hopping. Latika is re-captured by Maman's
organization and raised as a culturally talented prostitute
whose virginity will fetch a high price.
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The brothers eke out(竭力维持) a living, traveling on top of
trains, selling goods, pretending to be tour guides at the Taj
Mahal, and picking pockets. Jamal eventually insists that
they return to Mumbai since he wishes to locate Latika.
When he finds her working as a dancer in a brothel(妓院),
the brothers attempt to rescue her, but Maman intrudes(侵
入), 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 claims Latika as his own and when Jamal
protests, Salim threatens to kill him and Latika intervenes,
accepting her fate with Salim and breaking Jamal's heart.
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Years later, Jamal has a position as a "chaiwallah" (a boy or young man who serves tea) at a
call centre. When he is asked to cover for a coworker for a couple of minutes, he searches the
database for Salim and Latika. He gets in touch
with Salim, who has become a high-ranking
lieutenant in Javed’s organization. Jamal confronts
a regretful Salim on tense terms. Salim invites
Jamal to live with him and, after following Salim to
Javed's house, he sees Latika living there.
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He tries to convince Latika to leave. She rebuffs(回
绝) his advances, but he promises to be at the
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station every
day at 5 p.m. for her. She tries to discourage him,
but on the first day that Jamal waits there, Latika
attempts to rendezvous with him, but is recaptured
by Salim and Javed's men. One of the men then
slashes her cheek with a knife, scarring her as
Salim drives off, leaving Jamal with the onlooking
crowd.
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Jamal again loses contact with Latika when Javed
moves to another house. In another attempt to find
Latika, Jamal tries out for the popular game show
because he knows that she will 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 20 million
rupees (£281,301, $388,275 U.S.), but the host
calls the police and Jamal is taken into police
custody(拘留),
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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(似乎
可信的)" and, knowing he's not in it for the money,
allows him to return to the show for the final
question.
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At Javed's safehouse, Latika watches the news
coverage(新闻报道) 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". When Jamal uses his Phone-A-Friend lifeline(救生
索) to call Salim, Latika answers his phone and they
reconnect. She does not know the answer to the final
question either but, believing that "it is written", she tells
Jamal in unsubtitled(无字幕的) Hindi, "I'm yours" right
before the phone connection is cut. Jamal guesses the
correct answer (Aramis) to the question of the one
Musketeer whose name they never learned, and wins the
grand prize.
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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, or implying that it is
destiny.
Child actors
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According to the UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph,
Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (who played Salim as a
child) was paid £1,700 during filming, whilst the Economic
times of India claims he was paid £700, and Rubina Ali
(who played Latika as a child) £500 for a year’s work on
the film. At the end of the movie, both of the child actors
continued to live in makeshift(暂时的) shacks(棚屋) in the
slums of Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai, according to the
Telegraph and ABC News. A Fox Searchlight spokesman
responded that for their one-month work on the film, the
child actors were paid three times the amount of an
average annual salary for an adult living in their
neighborhood.
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On 26 January 2009 Danny Boyle (director) and Christian
Colson (producer) released a written statement saying that
they had “paid painstaking and considered attention to how
Azhar and Rubina’s involvement in the film could be of
lasting benefit to them over and above the payment they
received for their work”. Boyle and Colson have stated that
they have "set up trust funds for Rubina and Azharuddin
and paid for their education." The filmmakers stated that
they had hired transportation to get the children to a
nonprofit English-language school for the next eight years,
that their education has been paid for, and that both
children will receive £20 a month for books and food.
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The exact amount of the trust funds is not known for certain.
Boyle has explained that, "We don't want to reveal exact
figures about what's in the trust fund, what's in the bank
account for them for when they leave school because it will
make them vulnerable and a target really, but it is
substantial, and they will hopefully gain benefit from the
film long after the film has disappeared and long after the
media who are chasing them at the moment sadly have
lost interest in the film, and that's been our approach
throughout and I think it's the right approach." However,
according to the India Times, Azharuddin had £17,500 put
into a trust fund which he will get, plus interest, when he is
18.
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Azharuddin’s father, Mohammed Ismail, has demanded
more money for his son after the film's success. He has
been quoted as saying "My son has taken on the world and
won. I am so proud of him but I want more money. They
promised me a new house but it hasn't happened. I'm still
in the slum. I want the money now, it is of no use later. Mr.
Boyle should take care of my son." He also claimed, “There
is none of the money left. It was all spent on medicines to
help me fight TB(肺结核),” Defenders of the filmmakers
note that there is no assurance that any money given
directly to Azharuddin at this point would not be used by his
father for his own purposes, as has happened with
previous Indian child actors from slums.
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Both Azharuddin and Rubina attended the 81st
Academy Awards on 22 February 2009, along with
all of the other actors that played Salim, Jamal and
Latika. Azharuddin was accompanied by his
mother Shameem Ismail, while Rubina was
accompanied by her uncle. On 25 February 2009
the Maharashtra Housing and Development
Authority announced that both Azharuddin and
Rubina would be given "free houses" so that they
would no longer have to live in the Mumbai slum of
Garib Nagar. The filmmakers have hired local
social workers to facilitate this move for the
children's families.
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In the wake of(紧跟) Azharuddin and Rubina's
newfound relative affluence(财富), the pressures
upon them from the adults in their lives have
increased. Rubina's custody(监护权) is now an
issue, as her biological mother has tried to gain
custody from the stepmother who raised her,
apparently to get access to Rubina's funds and
improved lifestyle. Meanwhile, Azharuddin was
slapped by his father when he refused to do an
interview that his father had promised.