What Do The Critics Say?

"A kaleidoscope of multiplicity: romance, memoir, coming-of-age, sibling rivalry, gangsterism: accompanied by trains, always trains, carrying us in, around and through this masterpiece." Kimberly Gadette INDIE MOVIES ONLINE "Appropriately enough, "Slumdog Millioniaire" is a rich and enriching film teeming with life, death, love and pain. Based on a novel, Simon Beaufoy’s screenplay is a standout of economical storytelling. Brilliantly directed and edited, Slumdog Millionaire reaches into our hearts and minds with its confounding juxtaposing of human tragedy and nobility of spirit." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE "An intoxicating mix of genres: comedy, drama, suspense, even Bollywood-style musical." Moira MacDonald SEATTLE TIMES "It's a joyous, moving, living work that propels Boyle to the forefront of filmmakers working today." Ken Hanke MOUNTAIN XPRESS "All of the dots fit together very nicely and this journey is one I would take again in a second." Jeff Bayer THE SCORECARD REVIEWER "Like Mumbai, Slumdog pulses and throbs with raw, unadulterated life and the hope for a better Bombay, today. It's brilliant." Marc Savlov AUSTIN CHRONICLE "I'll keep this simple: Cancel whatever you're doing tonight and go see Slumdog Millionaire instead." Ty Burr BOSTON GLOBE "Danny Boyle has hit the jackpot with this wonderfully uplifting rags-to-riches story that has so much of everything. Above all, it's a love story, but also one about lost children, the relationship between two brothers and a story of survival. Throughout, we walk on a tightrope between the joyous and the devastating, with spectacularly rewarding results." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE

"An unapologetic modern fairy tale. The construct is so appealing, it's almost instantly classic. Director Danny Boyle tells all his stories with nothing less than panache." Jeffrey Chen WINDOW TO THE MOVIES "Director Danny Boyle has crafted one of the best and most surprising films of the year." Michelle Alexandria ECLIPSE MAGAZINE "Don't let the exotic setting put you off; this is a massively cool cross-cultural crowd-pleaser." Colin Covert MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE "It's a masterpiece, and that's my final answer." Austin O'Connor THE EXAMINER "Four stars simply aren't enough for Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, which just may be the most entertaining movie I've ever labeled a masterpiece in these pages." Lou Lumenick NEW YORK POST "It's a must-see gauntlet of emotions and hope that challenge the mind. Don't miss it. Moody locations, dazzling imagery and slick editing." Stan James THE ADVERTISER REVIEW "“Slumdog Millionaire” is a very old-fashioned rags to riches love story, Hollywood cannot produce nowadays. Fortunately there is Bollywood! Don't miss this movie of the year." Louis Proyect REC ARTS & MOVIE REVIEWS "Anyone who is not smiling by the time the Bollywood-style closing-credits dance number arrives is surely dead inside." Eric D. Snider ERICDSNIDER "Romantic, action-packed and always held together by an intriguing social conscience, Slumdog Millionaire is a rapturous crowd pleaser." Bob Mondello NPR

The Inside Story The genesis of "Slumdog Millionaire" began when the Head of Film and Drama at Channel 4, Tessa Ross, received a call from Film4’s book scout, Kate Sinclair, who explained that she’d read a proof of an extraordinary story. Although yet to be published, when Sinclair pitched the story, Ross immediately optioned the book. "Between optioning the book and it being published I had organised a dinner for writers, directors and producers and I spoke to Simon Beaufoy, who I’d known for a long time and was very keen to work with, and told him about our prize project", Ross recalls. "He absolutely loved the idea and came onboard very quickly." Ross suggested that, although the book was difficult to convert into a screenplay, she felt Beaufoy had the skill and experience to do it. Beaufoy believed that most Western cinemagoers had not previously experienced the side of India that Swarup’s book explores. "It’s like a city in fast-forward," Beaufoy ("Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day") says. "It’s Dickensian London in the twenty first century. It’s rapidly developing. The poor are poorer than ever before. The rich are richer than ever before. And there’s this mass of people in the middle, trying to force their way up." The simple premise of Swarup’s novel enabled Beaufoy to concentrate on two key elements when adapting the story into a screenplay. Firstly, the obvious rags to riches fairytale, where our hero overcomes enormous obstacles to reach a positive conclusion. Secondly, the extraordinary backdrop against which the story is set. But there were many technical difficulties. The adaptation of a book into a film script requires a very different approach for a writer than producing an original screenplay. The challenge for Beaufoy was to retain the soul of the book, but at the same time, translate those characters onto the big screen. "The biggest problem in converting the book to a screenplay was that it was effectively a series of stories: twelve short stories," Beaufoy explained. "Some of which weren’t even linked in any way. It had no over-arching narrative. It didn’t take someone from birth all the way through life. It was rather disjointed and some of the stories were almost discreet little tales that had no reference to the main characters at all. It’s very different to starting with one’s own idea and developing it. With an adaptation you’ve got responsibilities to the book. It is like unpacking a suitcase that has been delivered, with a jumble of things that fit and things that don’t fit. It’s not my suitcase. It’s someone else’s suitcase. But somehow you have to turn that into a suitcase of your own making." The film’s producer Christian Colson ("The Descent") believes Beaufoy was an inspired choice of writer. "Simon has a very warm, specific voice which is particularly suited to this material," Colson ("Separate Lies") says. "He wrote a first draft of the screenplay for Tessa in the first instance and then they came to me." And who came up with the title for the film? "Simon came up with the new title of "Slumdog Millionaire", which we all fell in love with. I guess in classical terms the story a comedy in so far as it describes a movement from disorder towards harmony. It’s a comedy but it’s also, at times, a horrifying drama. There are moments of great pain and pathos. It’s a fairytale and like all the best fairytales, it has moments of real darkness and horror. There is a great mix of things that really make you laugh and make you cry and make you gasp." Then the film nearly got lost in the shuffle as Warner Bros folded its art-house banner, Warner Independent, which had been slated to distribute "Slumdog Millionaire". That's when Fox Searchlight stepped in. Unbelievably, 'slumdog' was rescued from the direct to video scrap heap when Fox Searchlight decided to release it. The Australian distribution went to Icon. With the script was in good enough shape, the production team’s next task was to find a director. "The team’s number one choice was Danny Boyle. "We sat down and asked ourselves who would be the best person in the world to direct this material and just thought 'Danny Boyle!'. We sent it to him, he read it and said 'Count me in'. It was that easy." Beaufoy was impressed with Boyle’s respect for the script, as well as his approach to the material. Although the director is regarded by many as unmistakable in his directing style and approach to filmmaking, his attitude to each scene was to maintain the dialogue as written. "He understands the rhythm of a scene. He wants to keep it that way and he still manages to get his own absolutely unique vision across. It’s unmistakably a Danny Boyle film and yet pretty much every word that I wrote is there in the film. He’s incredibly respectful of the words on the page and won’t do anything to the dialogue without a huge amount of consultation with the writer." In the heat of shooting under tight time constraints and challenging conditions, 2008 British Independent Film Award winner Boyle explained that it made sense to remain as faithful as possible to Beaufoy’s blueprint. "Simon came over to India for rehearsals and we made some adjustments then. But most of the time we wanted to stick to the script as much as possible," he said. "I mean, inevitably things evolve and change but the script is like a tunnel you get into and the less detours you make when you’re in it, the better. You make it as vivid as you can and as complex and exciting as you can but you serve the narrative as much as possible." In the world of film development, where projects can struggle to move forward, constantly facing re-writes, new writers, extensive notes and delays as other films move into production, Slumdog Millionaire’s development arc was rapid. "It was a snowball that grew as it rolled down a hill," Executive Producer Tessa Ross ("The Last King of Scotland" & "In Bruges") notes. "Truly nothing stopped it in its tracks. The snowball had a very direct path down that hill and it speeded up because of Danny. We were able to develop and finance the film with Celador, and this meant we could then make all the important financial and creative decisions together very quickly." But what can a Western production bring to what is essentially an Indian story? "It’s an outsider’s perspective in the way that Sam Mendes did a great job portraying suburban America in "American Beauty" and Ang Lee did on Jane Austen’s England in "Sense and Sensibility". I guess there’s a fresh eye for the colourful, unique or vibrant that sometimes we, any of us, don’t see in our own cultures. There is certainly vibrancy to the movie that implies an outsider’s curiosity. I think we get very de-sensitised to the places where we live and sometimes don’t look as closely," says Colson ("Mansfield Park"). "As outsiders, we look differently." The arrival of the crew in India made a huge impact on the locals. "I’d never been to India," says Boyle. "My dad was there in the war and had talked to me endlessly about it and I’d always wanted to go. I thought it was an extraordinary place in the extremes that you experience there. But, more importantly, the challenges that you face are just beyond anything you can imagine." Beaufoy had travelled extensively in India when he was eighteen but noticed enormous changes on his return twenty years later. "India has changed massively since then so my research was focussed on wandering around and picking up stories and picking up the newspapers. The most lurid, melodramatic stories would leap off the page." "I’d read one and go and visit the area and soak up this extraordinary atmosphere and then start weaving the stories around that. I don’t think people living in Mumbai see Mumbai as extraordinary. When we fly in from Britain and see the city we find it absolutely incredible and I think that’s what Danny and I and Christian bring to it, as outsiders, is an open mouthed sense of awe," says Beaufoy. While the different departments prepared for the shoot, Boyle and a skeleton crew began filming rehearsals as proper 'takes', in order to maximise the amount of shooting time they had in India. Boyle also felt that the film’s lead Dev Patel, who played Anwar Kharral in nineteen episodes of TV'S "Skins", would benefit from spending time in Mumbai and invited the young actor to come along on several location scouts. For Patel, the experience helped him build up a profile of the character outside of the script’s structure. It also allowed him the chance to refine his accent. "I really wanted to play a scene when I was actually in the depths, in the slums, immersed in that environment," Patel said. "Being on the locations really helped me to build a background for my character and see where he’s grown up." When Boyle first arrived in Mumbai the mixture of absolute poverty and the country’s huge technical advancement fascinated him. "I’ve been to slums before but in different places in the world, like Kibera in Kenya but this was like; there’s this smell you get first of all; this incredible mixture of our excrement (it belongs to all of us) and then saffron. It’s just this mixture of the sweet and the sour," he explained. The crew shot in India’s largest slum Dharavi, and in one of its most vibrant, Juhu: situated next to the airport and to the west of the city and clearly visible by anyone flying into Mumbai. "Wherever we could, we shot real locations and we shot what was scripted and what was scripted was often pretty complex and took us to a fabulous range of different places," says Colson. "The film’s a fairy tale and like all the best fairy tales, it’s got light and shade. So, one minute we are at the Taj Mahal, which is one of the most beautiful places you will ever see and then we’re at some pretty rough places too. it was quite an odyssey." Victoria Terminus, in the heart of Mumbai is one of the enduring marks left by the Raj. The crew filmed the dance sequence there, which appears over the end credits. "The railways are the lifeblood of India, really," Boyle explained. One of the most difficult scenes was filming the young children jumping off the train. "That was very, very, tough," Boyle recalls. "We had a very good stunt guy who dealt with this. But the lives of the kids were absolutely in his hands. He did a brilliant job for us really, but it was tough." The casting process took Boyle and Colson all over the US, Canada, the UK and India in search of the right actors that could deliver a convincing performance in English and also fit across the three ages of the story: seven, thirteen and eighteen. It also brought them to an Indian casting director, Loveleen Tandan. "Her role constantly expanded, not only finding the kids but translating and directing them with me," says Boyle. Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (who plays the young Salim) and Rubina Ali (who plays the young Latika), were eventually cast from the slums but have since been placed into education by the production. It was Boyle's daughter Catlin (a big fan of "Skins") who suggested Patel. Casting director and Indian co-director Loveleen Tandan contacted model Freida Pinto’s agent. Her agent advised her to "go for it since you are very interested in acting." Six long months later Pinto got the nod. Synopsis

Jamal Malik, is an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering twenty million rupees on India’s "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But when the show breaks for the night, the local police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; after all, how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up. Their adventures together on the road. Their vicious encounters with local gangs. Of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter reveals the key to the answer to each of the game show’s questions. Intrigued by the young mans story, the jaded Police Inspector begins to wonder what a young man with no apparent desire for riches is really doing on this game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out.

The Verdict "Boston Globe film critic Ty Burr summed up the effect "Slumdog Millionaire" had on him when he wrote: "I'll keep this simple: Cancel whatever you're doing tonight and go see Slumdog Millionaire instead." That too is my advice. It's that time of the year again, when cinemagoers face the annual barrage of Boxing Day big budget Hollywood openers. Every film company, every theatre is touting for your box-office dollar. Astutely aware movie lovers, those who cherish the pleasure of something really simple, very colorful, life reflecting and yet so powerful the memory lingers with you forever, will make "Slumdog Millionaire" their film of choice. They won't fall for the Hollywood sucker punch and neither should you. This is a film that justly deserves to be seen on the big (if not the biggest) screen at your local multiplex. It's also a film that has the critics singing its praises and those who have seen it giving it the two thumbs up. The good news is, you don't have to wait till Boxing Day to experience the raptuous delights of "Slumdog Millionaire", because the four time nominee in this years Golden Globe Awards list and winner of three 2008 British Independant Film Awards opened nationally on December 18th. A glorious tale of love and overcoming. Highest commendation. 5 STARS." Crew Bytes "SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE" was .......
directed by 1994 San Sebastián International Film Festival Silver Seashell winner Danny Boyle ["Trainspotting", "Millions" and "Sunshine"]; casting by Loveleen Tandan ["Monsoon Wedding", "Vanity Fair" and "Brick Lane"]; screenplay by 2001 Newport International Film Festival Best Director Award winner ["The Full Monty", "Blow Dry" and "This Is Not a Love Song"]; set decoration by Michelle Day ["The Mother", "The Constant Gardener" and "28 Weeks Later"]; costume design by Suttirat Anne Larlarb ["Sunshine"]; production design by Mark Digby ["The Road to Guantanamo" and "A Mighty Heart"]; edited by Chris Dickens ["Shaun Of The Dead", "Goal!" and "Hot Fuzz"]; cinematography by three time Robert Award winner Anthony Dod Mantle ["Menneskedyret", "Festen" and "It's All About Love"]; original music by three time International Indian Film Academy winner A.R. Rahman ["Water", "Taal", "Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India" and "Saathiya"]. Who's Who

Dev Patel Madhur Mittal Freida Pinto Anil Kapoor Irfan Khan Saurabh Shukla Sanchita Couhdary Raj Zutshi Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail Ayush Mahesh Khedekar Rubiana Ali Tanay Hemant Chheda Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar Chirag Parmar Jeneva Talwar Sunil Aggrawal Mahesh Manjrekar Himanshu Tyagi Sharib Hashmi Virendra Chatterjee Feroz Abbas Khan Virender Kumar Gharu Devesh Rawal Ankur Vikal Uday Chopra Nazneen Shaikh Farzana Ansari

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Jamal Salim Latika Prem Kumar Police Inspector Sergeant Srinivas Jamal's Mother Director Youngest Salim Youngest Jamal Youngest Latika Middle Jamal Middle Salim Middle Latika Young Arvind Vision Mixer Mr Chi Javed Mr Nanda Prakash Slum Man Amitabh Bachchan Man on Fire Blue Boy Maman Punnoose Baby Latika's Friend

Run Time 120 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2008 - Fox Searchlight Films - All Rights Reserved ©2008 All Rights Reserved The Movie Pages - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - Protected by Australian, International, Copyright & Trademark Laws.