This is our destiny ✵ Slumdog Millionaire - SMALL WORLD ✵ 1992–PRESENT - The Movie Book (Big Ideas Simply Explained) (2016)

The Movie Book (Big Ideas Simply Explained) (2016)

RG

RG

IN CONTEXT

GENRE

Drama

DIRECTOR

Danny Boyle

WRITERS

Simon Beaufoy (screenplay); Vikas Swarup (novel)

STARS

Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan

BEFORE

1996 Trainspotting, a gritty black comedy based on the novel by Irvine Welsh, shoots Danny Boyle to fame.

2002 City of God shows the potential of dramas set in the developing world to have worldwide box-office appeal.

AFTER

2012 Boyle directs the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony, including a Punjabi song composed by A. R. Rahman.

Set in Mumbai, Slumdog Millionaire tells the rags-to-riches story of a kid from the slums who tries his luck on a game show. The movie’s influences are wildly cross-cultural. The source novel, Vikas Swarup’s Q&A, was Indian, but the director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy are British. They present a Mumbai where traditional Indian and modern global influences are stirred together, backed by a sound track by A. R. Rahman that mixes Indian classical music with hip-hop and house, Bollywood, and R&B.

The story begins with Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a penniless orphan from the slums of Mumbai, just one question away from winning 20 million rupees on Indian TV’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” But when the show breaks before the crucial final question, he is arrested on suspicion of cheating—for how could a poor “slumdog” know all the answers? A cynical police inspector (Irrfan Khan) spends the night interrogating Jamal, who explains how his answers have been tied to events in his past. The movie delves back into earlier moments in Jamal’s life, showing how he learned each answer. The audience learns his life story in a series of flashbacks, each corresponding to a question. It begins with the moment when Jamal is five and he and his brother Salim are fleeing the 1992-93 Bombay Riots. They run into young Latika, who will become the love of his life. The story reveals other moments in which Jamal and Salim use their wits to survive everything from chilling encounters with gangsters who maim street children to Jamal’s heartache over Latika. But will it be enough to convince the police inspector to set him free, and to find his sweetheart?

RG

Jamal (Dev Patel) and Latika (Freida Pinto) overcome adversity and prejudice to find love.

Mixed reception

The reception of Slumdog Millionaire in the West was overwhelmingly positive. The movie bubbles with feel-good energy and a raucous joie de vivre. Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, using digital cameras to their fullest potential, puts the audience right in the heart of frantic, vibrant Mumbai. An exuberant Bollywood-style dance at a train station only further cranks up the adrenaline.

The movie was showered with acclaim, eventually winning eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Boyle. And yet in India and elsewhere, some felt Slumdog had only gained recognition because it had a British director, while “real” Indian movies were ignored. Others felt that its view of the Mumbai slums was unrealistic and that the rags-to-riches plot was implausible.

RG

The nation watches enthralled as Jamal (Dev Patel) progresses through the rounds with correct answers, heading for the 20 million rupee jackpot.

“We used to live right there, man. Now, it’s all business.”

Jamal / Slumdog Millionaire

DANNY BOYLE Director

Known for his versatility, ability to work in many genres, and kinetic camera angles, Danny Boyle made his name directing tough, funny movies with pulsating sound tracks. Born in Lancashire, UK, in 1956 to Irish parents, he was brought up Catholic and considered entering the priesthood. Instead, he studied English and Drama at Bangor University in Wales, becoming a theater director and working at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court. In 1987, he started working in TV, producing many TV movies. He claims that his love for movies started with Apocalypse Now (1979): “It had eviscerated my brain completely.” His first feature movie, the black comedy Shallow Grave, was a UK hit. Two years later, Trainspotting, a stylish movie about drug addicts in Edinburgh, propelled him to international attention.

Key movies

1994 Shallow Grave

1996 Trainspotting

2002 28 Days Later

2007 Sunshine

2008 Slumdog Millionaire

What else to watch: Los Olvidados (1950) ✵ Pather Panchali (1955) ✵ Central Station (1998) ✵ City of God (2002)