Slumdog Millionaire

1. Slumdog Millionaire

2. 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?

3. Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it? • He cheated. B) He's lucky. C) He's a genius. D) It is written.

4. 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 anti-Muslim 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

5. Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008Britishfilm directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the Boeke Prize-winning(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.

6. After its world premiere (首映) at Telluride Film Festival and subsequent screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival and the London Film Festival, SlumdogMillionaire 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.

7. 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.

8. Directed by Danny BoyleLoveleen Tandan • Produced by Christian Colson • Written by Simon Beaufoy • Starring Dev PatelFreida PintoMadhur MittalTanay ChhedaAyush Mahesh KhedekarAzharuddin IsmailRubina AliAnil KapoorIrrfan Khan • Music by A. R. Rahman • Cinematography(摄影 ) Anthony Dod Mantle • Editing by Chris Dickens • Studio Celador FilmsFilm4 • Running time 120 min. • Country United Kingdom • Language EnglishHindi (北印度语) • Budget $15 million • Gross revenue $268,103,477

9. 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)

10. 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)

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. Plot • 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 Dharavislums. 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.

15. 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).)

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. Years later, Jamal has a position as a "chai-wallah" (a boy or young man who serves tea) at a call centre. When he is asked to cover for a co-worker 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.

19. 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.

20. 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),

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. Child actors • 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.

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 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.