Things aren't always as they seem...

Arrested on suspicion of cheating, he tells the police the incredible story of his life on the streets, and of the girl he loved and lost. But what is a kid with no interest in money doing on the show? And how is it he knows all the answers? 

Plots:

     In Mumbai in 2006, eighteen-year-old Jamal Malik, a former street child from the Juhu slum, is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and is one question away from the grand prize. However, before the Rs. 20 million question, he is detained and interrogated by the police, who suspect him of cheating because of the impossibility of a simple "slumdog" knowing all the answers. Jamal recounts, through flashbacks, the incidents in his life which provided him with each answer. These flashbacks tell the story of Jamal, his brother Salim, and Latika.

     The story of Jamal's life includes his managing, at age five, to obtain the autograph of Bollywood star, Amitabh Bachan, which his brother then sells, followed immediately by the death of his mother during the Bombay Riots. As they flee the riot, Salim and Jamal meet Latika, another child from their slum. Salim is reluctant to take her in, but Jamal suggests that she could be the third musketeer, a character from the Alexandre Dumas novel (which they had been studying—albeit not very diligently—in school), whose name they do not know. The three are found by Maman, a gangster who tricks and then trains street children into becoming beggars.

     When Jamal, Salim, and Latika learn Maman is blinding children in order to make them more effective as singing beggars, they flee by jumping onto a departing train. Latika catches up and takes Salim's hand, but Salim purposely lets go, and she is recaptured by the gangsters. Over the next few years, Salim and Jamal make a living travelling on top of trains, selling goods, picking pockets, working as dish washers, and pretending to be tour guides at the Taj Mahal, where they steal people's shoes. At Jamal's insistence, they return to Mumbai to find Latika, discovering from one of the singing beggars that she has been raised by Maman to become a prostitute and that her virginity is expected to fetch a high price. The brothers rescue her, and Salim draws a gun and kills Maman. Salim then manages to get a job with Javed, Maman's rival crime lord. Arriving at their hotel room, Salim orders Jamal to leave him and Latika alone. When Jamal refuses, Salim draws a gun on him, and Jamal leaves after Latika persuades him to go away (Presumably so he wouldn't get hurt by Salim).

     Years later, while working as a tea server at an Indian call centre, Jamal searches the centre's database for Salim and Latika. He fails in finding Latika but succeeds in finding Salim, who is now a high-ranking lieutenant in Javed's organization, and they reunite. Salim is regretful for his past actions and only pleads for forgiveness when Jamal physically attacks him. Jamal then bluffs his way into Javed's residence and reunites with Latika. While Jamal professes his love for her, Latika asks him to forget about her. Jamal promises to wait for her every day at 5 o'clock at the CST station. Latika attempts to rendezvous with him, but she is recaptured by Javed's men, led by Salim. Jamal loses contact with Latika when Javed moves to another house, outside of Mumbai. Knowing that Latika watches it regularly, Jamal attempts to make contact with her again by becoming a contestant on the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? He makes it to the final question, despite the hostile attitude of the show's host, Prem Kumar and becomes a wonder across India.

     Kumar feeds Jamal the incorrect response to the penultimate question, and when Jamal still gets it right, turns him into the police on suspicion of cheating. Back in the interrogation room, the police inspector calls Jamal's explanation "bizarrely plausible", but thinks he is not a liar and allows him to return to the show. At Javed's safehouse, Latika watches the news coverage of Jamal's miraculous run on the show. Salim, in an effort to make amends for his past behaviour, quietly gives Latika his mobile phone and car keys, and asks her to forgive him and to go to Jamal. Latika, though initially reluctant out of fear of Javed, agrees and escapes. Salim fills a bathtub with cash and sits in it, waiting for the death he knows will come when Javed discovers what he has done.

     Jamal's final question is, by coincidence, the name of the third musketeer in The Three Musketeers, a fact he never learned. Jamal uses his Phone-A-Friend lifeline to call Salim's cell, as it is the only phone number he knows. Latika succeeds in answering the phone just in the nick of time, and, while she does not know the answer, tells Jamal that she is safe. Relieved, Jamal randomly picks Aramis, the right answer, and wins the grand prize. Simultaneously, Javed discovers that Salim has helped Latika escape after he hears Latika on the show. He and his men break down the bathroom door, and Salim kills Javed, before being gunned down himself at the hands of Javed's men. With his dying breath, Salim gasps that God is great.

Released Date:  November 28th, 2008

Genres: Crime, Drama, Romance, Family

Casts:

Dev Patel as Jamal Malik

Freida Pinto as Latika

Madhur Mitthal as Salim Malik

Anil Kapoor as Prem Kumar, the game show host

Irrfan Khan as the Police Inspector

Mahesh Manjrekar as Javed, the crime boss and the main antagonist.

Ankur Vikal as Maman

Rajendranath Zutshi as the Millionaire show producer

Sanchita Choudhary as Jamal's mother

Quotes:

Middle Jamal: [seeing the Taj Mahal] Is this heaven?
Middle Salim: You're not dead Jamal.
Middle Jamal: What is it? Some hotel? 

Jamal Malik: I knew you'd be watching.
Latika: I thought we would meet only in death.
Jamal Malik: This is our destiny.
Latika: Kiss me. 

Prem Kumar: Its getting hot in here.
Jamal Malik: Are you nervous?
Prem Kumar: [audience laughs] What? Am I nervous ? Its you whos in the hot seat, my friend!
Jamal Malik: Yes, sorry. 

Prem Kumar: Final question for twenty million rupees, and he's smiling. I guess you know the answer.
Jamal Malik: Do you believe it, I don't!
Prem Kumar: You don't? So you take the ten million and walk?
Jamal Malik: No. I'll play. 

Latika: You want to do something for me?
Jamal Malik: Anything.
Latika: Then forget me! 

Jamal Malik: When somebody asks me a question, I tell them the answer.

Police Inspector: [whispering] Doctors... Lawyers... never get past 60 thousand rupees. He's won 10 million.
[pause]
Police Inspector: What the hell can a slumdog possibly know?
Jamal Malik: [quietly] The answers.
[spits out blood]
Jamal Malik: [quietly and gently] I knew the answers. 

Police Inspector: Money and women. The reasons for make most mistakes in life. Looks like you've mixed up both. 

Salim: That... used to be our slum. Can you believe that, huh? [pointing at something] We used to live right there, man. Now, it's all business. India is at the center of the world now, bhai. And I... I am at the center... of the center. This is all Javed bhai's.
Jamal Malik: Javed Khan... the gangster from our slum? You work for him?
Salim: Come on, who else do you think would save us from Maman's guys, huh?
Jamal Malik: What do you do for him?
Salim: Anything he asks. [pause in conversation, as Salim's phone rings] He's coming. You need to go now. Take my card.
Jamal Malik: What for?
Salim: You think I'm gonna let you out of my sights again, huh? You stay with me now, younger brother. Now, go. My place.
Jamal Malik: Salim, where is Latika?
Salim: Still...? She's gone, brother. Long gone. Now, go. Go to my place. 

YoungJamal: I just need Maman to like my singing, and were in the money, big money Latika.
Young Latika: And then what? Can we stop begging?
Young Jamal: Begging? Are you kidding? We'll live in a big house on Harbour Road. You, me and Salim, the three musketeers.
Young Latika: Harbour Road? Really?
YoungJamal: Yes, in the moonlight. You and me. You'll dance with me won't you?
[dances]
Young Latika: [laughs] I hope you sing better than you dance. 

Jamal Malik: I wake up every morning wishing I didn't know the answer to that question. If it wasn't for Rama and Allah, we'd still have a mother.

Javed: My enemy's enemy is a friend. 

Salim: Grow up Jamal! I’m the head of this family, and I say no. Piss off, you!

Maman: Your destiny is in your hands, bhai. You can’t be me. Or nobody. Understand?

Jamal: I love you.

Latika: So what? It's too late Jamal.

Jamal: Run away with me.

Latika: And live on what?

Jamal: Love...

Trailer:

[P.S actually this movie is really interesting, if you watch it and see thru' it. This movie taught me that not everybody, who seems like they aren't even capable or they don't look like any 'intellegence' people ones, sometimes they know more than us. It's all because experience. Everybody has their own experience that taught them about life. Then again, never judge people based on their looks. Luck is always there. Sometimes we have to believe in it. And why did I call this post as "Things aren't always as they seem" was originally because this movie indeed taught me that.]