81st Academy Awards · 2009
Slumdog Millionaire
Directed byCooked up by Danny Boyle
“What does it take to find a lost love?”
“Final answer: main character energy 💰✨”
The storyThe lore 📖
A teenager reflects on his life after being accused of cheating on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?".
Jamal, a teen who grew up in the slums of Mumbai, is one question away from winning India's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire — and the police think he's cheating. Flashbacks reveal every answer comes from his wild life story, all while he searches for his childhood crush, Latika. The ending dance number? It's giving iconic ✨💃
What critics & audiences sayThe receipts 🧾
Tomatometer
92%
Fresh
#49 of 98 winnersFamous linesLines living rent free
It is written.
I wake up every morning wishing I didn't know the answer to that question. If it wasn't for Rama and Allah, I'd still have a mother.
Jamal: I knew you'd be watching.
Latika: I thought we'd meet again only in death.
Jamal: This is our destiny.
Latika: Kiss me.
Money and women: the reasons for make most mistakes in life. Looks like you've mixed up both.
Jamal: Is this heaven?
Salim: You're not dead, Jamal.
Jamal: Run away with me.
Latika: And live on what?
Jamal: Love...
Prem Kumar: Final question for twenty million rupees, and he's smiling. I guess you know the answer.
Jamal: Do you believe it, I don't!
I will wait for you, 5 pm everyday at the train station.
Prem Kumar: It's getting hot in here.
Jamal: Are you nervous?
Prem Kumar: What? Am I nervous ? It's you who's in the hot seat, my friend!
Quotes via Wikiquote
Filming locationsWhere they shot it 📍
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Mumbai
Maharashtra, India
Filming took place in the city's megaslum, where the crew befriended onlookers to manage the crowds.
Map ↗About this place ↗Source: Wikipedia · Production and producer
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Juhu
Mumbai, India
Scenes were shot in shantytown parts of this Mumbai suburb.
Map ↗About this place ↗Source: Wikipedia · Production and producer
Fun factsFacts that go hard 🤓
- When Warner Independent Pictures shut down in 2008, parent studio Warner Bros. doubted the film's commercial prospects and suggested sending it straight to video with no U.S. theatrical release, before Fox Searchlight bought into the film and took over U.S. distribution.Wikipedia · Theatrical
- Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, then host of the real Indian Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, turned down the role of game show host Prem Kumar because he did not want audiences to think the real show was a fraud.Wikipedia · Production and producer
- Danny Boyle decided to translate nearly a third of the film's English dialogue into Hindi, but fibbed to Warner Independent's president that he wanted only 10% in Hindi, and she approved the change.Wikipedia · Production and producer
- Danny Boyle initially hesitated because he had no interest in a film about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, but changed his mind on learning the script was by Simon Beaufoy, writer of one of his favorite British films, The Full Monty.Wikipedia · Production and producer
- Slumdog Millionaire was the first film shot using digital cinematography to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography; Anthony Dod Mantle shot it mainly on the compact Silicon Imaging SI-2K digital camera.Wikipedia · Accolades
- Loveleen Tandan was originally one of five casting directors in India. After she suggested doing some of the film in Hindi and wrote the Hindi dialogue, Danny Boyle asked her to step in as co-director.Wikipedia · Production and producer
- The chase in one of the film's opening scenes was based on a 12-minute police chase through Mumbai's Dharavi slum in the Indian film Black Friday (2007), one of several Bollywood films Danny Boyle cited as influences.Wikipedia · Production and producer
- A Hindi-dubbed version was released in India as Slumdog Crorepati, since Indians are more familiar with the crore than with a million, and it did better at the box office than the original version.Wikipedia · India
- Slumdog Millionaire won eight of its ten Oscar nominations without a single acting nomination, and it was the last Best Picture winner without one until Parasite in 2019.Wikipedia · Accolades
- The film's reception in India was mixed: the Hindustan Times called it "an assault on Indian self-esteem," and acclaimed director Adoor Gopalakrishnan called it "a very anti-Indian film."Wikipedia · Reactions from India and the Indian diaspora