The story of Slumdog Millionaire follows the story of 18 year old Jamal Malik, an orphan who grew up in the slums of Mumbai on the Indian version of "Who wants to be a millionaire". Him being a slumdog and the gameshow something perceived to be based on intelligence and not luck, he is not expected to go very far. Now one question away from the grand total prize of 20 million rupees he is arrested by the police and accused of cheating. Through Jamal trying to prove his innocence we learn of his dramatic back story and how it eventually lead him to his current point in time. We start when he was a young boy still living in the slums with his brother Salim after the riots we witness how he first met Latika. As they grow he loses contact with her due to unfortunate circumstances. Following this his brother Salim becomes even more rebellious and eventually betraying his own brother when he is reunited with Latika and opting for the life of a gangster. Jamal tells of how the tumultuous events of his life has instilled him with the knowledge to answer the difficult questions leading up to the final one. With the police officer now believing him he he is invited back to the studio to answer the final question. The film shows two distinct ways that a person can escape the poverty of the slums, this is either by the quick and easy path of betrayal and dishonesty, a route taken by Salim, or the rough path of honesty and striving to achieve something you believe in, exhibited by Jamal. This final question now posed to Jamal Malik by host Anil Kapoor could mean him becoming rich beyond his wildest dreams and finally escaping with his childhood love Latika or simply leaving with nothing.

The diretor of Trainspotting, Danny Boyle, was also director of this film. throughout the filming process it was his responsibility was to in the end provide the most a convincing performance from the cast and ensure that the intended vision of the film was fulfilled. Altough the budget of this film was larger than that of Trainspotting at around $15.1 million again it it a relatively small amount when compared to the blockbuster films churred out by Hollywood. This highlights the British film industries current state, showing that there still is a large gap between the funding for American films and that of British films. Despite the budget the film was so successful it managed to gross more than 10 times the amount used to make the film at a whopping $377,417,293. This films being produced by the same company as Trainspotting is very significant, this is because the company, Film4, underwent a back to basic manner with their productions. For the company to endorse this much money in a film and it turn out to be a success is a massive confidence booster. Altough This time round the production compnay will still remain wise with thier decisions with such mistakes as period dramma Charlotte Gray baring harsh reminder of the the consequences of bad choices.

Danny Boyle himself reported that there was no option of not filming this in on location. He says the way to a achieve even an half-convincing film would be to use real locations. This film was mainly filmed in Mumbai in India, one of the original settings from the book the film is based on, Q & A by Vikas Swaup. Mumbai was also a very suitable location to do the filimg at because it is a heavily populated place and therefore very diverse in wealth. In some areas of this city there are tall and very modern buildings with wealthy workers that help to generate a lot of the money that goes into India's economy, and then there are the other parts that are what are known as "the slums", these densely populated areas are home to the poorer inhabitants who are often unemployed and living in conditions below the poverty line. Slums are a very popular outcome of urbanisation in developing countries. These exact contrasting traits of the city are very visible witch is what makes it an ideal setting to accentuate the films plot in a realistic manner.

Again baring resemblance to Trainspotting this film used nearly a whole cast of not very established actors. Characters Jamal, Latika and Salim represented by three actors each. The 2nd set of actors were to represent them in their child years, Jamal portrayed by Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Latika by Rubina Ali and Salim by Azharuddin Mohammmed Ismail, the later two of witch are actual children from the real slums of India. Perhaps not acting for prestige and fame these two children have managed to gain something relevant to their lives from the film, a trust fund was set up in order to provide a good education for the children and better housing for their families. Moving on to the 3rd set of actors that represent the characters in their adolescent years, we see Jamal being portrayed by Tanay Chheda, Latika by Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar and Salim by Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, they are all Indian actors who have all been established to industries outside of India through this film. Moving on to the main string actors, older Salim turned gangster is portrayed by Madhur Mittal, he is an actor who has had numerous appearances on Indian television but before this film was indeed unkown to the british audience and most of the world, now he says he is being inundated with offers in both Hollywood and Bollywood. Freida Pinto played the lead female role of Latika, she was originally a professional model and her début as an actress was with this film. For Dev Patel, who played lead male role of Jamal Malik, this was also his feature film début. The British public is most likely to recognise him due to his appearance in the hit teen drama series Skins. He is also the only main member of the cast that is British. Also part of the film's cast was Anil Kapoor and Irrfan Khan, altough these two actors might have played more secondary roles within the film they are very well known Bollywood actors with many films to their names.

For distribution within the UK Fox Searchlight Pictures was responsible witch is a film division of the larger company 20th Century Fox. This sector was established in 1994, witch is quite recent, and focuses mainly on distributing indie and British films. Slumdog Millionaire falls directly into the category of films this company distributes. On an international scale Warner Bros. (WB) , witch is one of the major film studios, was responsible for distributing this film to America and India. In Both countries the films success carried on, it reached top of the American box office charts in the January it was released.

This film won numerous awards, many of witch are awards of great prestige. It won 8 Academy Awards, the list including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also won 7 BAFTA Awards this list including, Best Film, Best Cinematography and Best Film Music. Also winning 4 Golden Globe Awards in categories Best Picture- Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay and finally Best Original Score. In total this film won 90 awards and received 43 nominations.

This film touches on quite a few controversial issues over the course of telling an depth love story. One of the most notable controversial topics being urbanization causing such problems for people and as a result creating the slums. Other such Controversial issue touched upon is child labour depicted by the children being sent into the streets to beg for money, even extreme measures were inflicted to persuade people to give more money. Also hype from the media surrounding the two children from the slums has aroused controversy, there have been rumours in witch state that Danny Boyle has not payed the two children actors the full amount of money initially promised. Also rumours have been circulating that Rubina's father has offered her for sale, marketing her with the name "Oscar Child", the allegations are of course denied by the father. All of the controversy surrounding this film is to do with money witch is depicting India very negatively. Money is a very pertinent theme within not only the storyline of this film, but the lifestyle it serves to represent, as it offers the prospect of escape.

My Response

The main message of this film is short and simple, drugs are bad. The film shows that although drugs might seem like a fun escape ultimately the consequences dealt from the experience are not worth that momentary buzz, exhibited very well through Renton's experiences over the course of the film. The explicit manner of the film show ever detail of drug taking and portrays it in the unpleasant and unclean way it actually is. The film also depicts the hallucinations and the horrors a person might encounter when combating it's effects. All these factors build up a very convincing argument behind the main message of the film making it resonate better with the audience.

As a British film I believe this film acts as a mirror showing and criticising heavily our own society. It shows how our youth culture is mislead to believe drugs are fun and fail to actually realise how it can affect a person's life in the long run. within this film the character's fates are all directly influenced by drugs, for example spud was sent to jail and now he is out and cant get a job wonders aimlessly. Tommy, who originally was not interested in drugs like his friends, fate is one of the most hard hitting, he turned to drugs and as a result contracted HIV witch eventually lead to his death. Those character server to further deter young people from getting into drugs however for those that have already gotten into the habit Renton's character is aimed at them. Although being an addict he finds the strength to finally quit and separate himself from his former life.

I think it this film was very successful because it was a very honest portrayal of a tough subject witch other films before it dodged. The film provides alternate views on people who take drugs showing how it offers the façade of structure to their other wise aimless lives. To brake up this serious topic however the film was filed with light-hearted comedy and we come to find ourselves empathising with the main character and wanting him to find his happy ending.

Marketing

The Poster

This is the poster image for Trainspotting. There are five of the main characters stood in different poses looking quite mismatched as a group, on one end you see a man with a shirt and tie and on the other you see a man wearing a shirt and jeans drenched in water. Also the characters depicted on this poster are young and with the exception of Renton are smiling and seem to be in good moods, witch makes him stand out. This shows that this film is upbeat and possibly serves as a visible representation of the film becoming serious.

Initially themes represented by the poster from just the image are youth and fun, however when considering that Trainspotting, the title of the film, is a slang term related to taking a heroin shot we learn that drugs, in particular heroin, will play a major role within the film. All the characters are presented in black and white two colours that bare very distinct connotations, black represents evil fear and even death while white represents innocence and purity. Taken into the context of this film these colours could represent the dark world of drugs and the light world of normality. To present these characters in only these two colours represents them in a raw and concise manner.

Methods use to sell this Poster is a big bold printed quote from a review by EMPIRE magazine, which to some is a well known and trusted media source. The Fact it was also given a 5 star rating, maximum points, tells the audience this is really a good film. Choosing this quote also acknowledges rivalry between the British film industry and Hollywood.

Another method used to 'sell' the film is the use of a box office draw. In a box placed to the right on the title banner it says "from the makers of shallow grave" this is important because fans of this film seeing this would most likely persuade them to also watch this film.

Additional information is the age rating included printed rather small next to the title. This film has been certificated 18 witch means it most likely contains scenes of an adult nature, these being scenes to do with sex, drugs and violence.

The Trailer

This trailer, like most film trailers, is a montage of scenes strung together in a way to convey what the film is about. The first thing we hear is the non diegetic soundtrack for this trailer in witch drums and guitar can distinctly be heard, use of drums for this soundtrack conveys a buzz of energy whilst use of guitars shows this film is aimed at the young. Narration from the Lead character Renton (Ewen McGregor) is dominant throughout the whole trailer as he talks about life choices. different scenes chosen for this trailer reveal different aspect of the film also therefore making it clearer than the poster exactly what sort of film it is. Renton's scene with Diane showing relationship is an important aspect. Then the scenes where spud is in an interview acting very strange due to being under the influence of drugs and another scene where Renton shoots the dogs behind as a result making it attack its owner reveals a certain comedic value within the film.

This trailer establishes the 5 main characters as the poster does, however couples them with relevant scenes to give us a clearer picture of their personalities. Other information this trailer gives is that the film is distributed by PolyGram, and that it is from the creators of Shallow grave for the same box office drawn reason as the poster. Altogether this is an increasingly face paced trailer that includes very unusual aspects witch makes people want to watch it and find out more abut the distinct characters.

Trainspotting

Plot

This film opens with an action packed scene in witch we see security guards in hot pursuit of two young and scruffily dressed men. This chase occurring down Princes Street in Edinburgh, Scotland, helps establish not only location but the rebellious theme of the film. We are quick to learn that one of the scruffily dressed men involved in the pursuit and the film’s narrator are one and the same, Mark Renton who is a disaffected Scottish youth (played by Ewan McGregor) and as he states opts to live in a blissful, meaningless heroin-induced stupor, as opposed to the decision to “choose life” (by which he means a traditional family lifestyle with children and material possessions). Moving on through the opening scene we are introduced to the other main characters of the film, Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Spud (Ewen Bremner), Tommy (Kevin McKidd) and Francis Begbie (Robert Carlyle) over the course of a football match. These other characters are also just as disaffected as the main character, some using drugs, alcohol or other such means to escape the banalities of modern-day existence.

In his first instance of "taking the last shot" living a conventional lifestyle proves to be a struggle for Renton. He alongside sick boy, spud, Tommy and Begbie attend Volcano dance club, their main aim being to find a woman to have sex with. Through this process of the men trying to find woman to pair off with, we are introduced to Diane (Kelly MacDonald), Renton taking a particular interest in her. She severely faults Renton's attempt at flirting yet they proceed back to her house. After they have had sex Diane is insistent that Renton cannot stay for the night. The next morning after sleeping on a bench outside her room, much to his disbelief he discovers that Diane is actually a school girl still living with her parents, but worst of all that she is under the age of consent. Through blackmail she forces Renton to keep in touch with her.

Life being clean not working as best as he hoped he decides to go back on heroin. This montage of Renton and friends taking drugs is particularly controversial as it seems to portray heroin as a glorious escape from troubled life, even Tommy who at the start of the film is a character established with no history with drugs turns to this new solution. However this is clearly proven not to be the case when the upbeat feel is dissipated by the horrific screaming of Allison. we then discover that her Baby left in the care of these men is now dead, cause of death being neglect. The most unsettling part of this being that over he course of the montage prior the faint and distorted wals of a baby can be heard. A few scenes later we are brought back to the opening scene of the film in witch we see the pursuit down princes street. Now after we see Renton stopped by a car and tackled by a guard we are taken to a courtroom scene. Here Spud is convicted and sent to jail, Renton on the other hand escapes the same fate, and is told he can avoid jail by enlisting in a Drug Interventions Programme. Despite this grand opportunity, he goes straight back to heroine on witch he overdoses. His parents later pick him up from the hospital then take him home and lock him inside his room, forcing him to beat his addiction cold turkey. This brings on a scene that is meant to portray his twisted hallucinations, this scene presents some of the most mind-bending and provocative material seen throughout the whole film.

Now on top of his Addiction he moves to London to forge himself a new start to life. He builds himself up well by attaining a stable job and a reasonable place to stay. He is actually doing well for himself until Begbie shows up looking for a place to hide from the police, Renton is reluctant to let him stay. Shortly after Sick also turns up looking for a place to stay. As days pass Renton becomes increasingly frustrated with his "friends" and within himself for not being able to just tell them to leave. Not before long are the told that their friend Tommy, who had contracted HIV most likely through taking drugs, had died. So the three travel back up to Edinburgh for his funeral.

After the funeral, whilst they are back In Scotland, sick boy makes the proposition of buying heroine and selling it to some professional dealers down in London for a profit. The four decide to go through with it, but Begbie demands that Renton pay the most of the initial £4000 seeing that he was the best off out of them. Renton is wary however still complies. The film makes it seem as though Renton's so called friends are at the centre of his demise. Despite being clean of drugs they make him dose some of their batch to make sure it was secure. This being yet again him "taking his last shot". The drugs are safe and they Proceed to sell the £4,000 batch for £16,000. They then opt to celebrate by taking a trip down to the local bar. Now comtemplating to steal the the bag of money from his friends who he has come to understand are not really his friends, with the exception of Spud. The unnecessary outburst from Begie, in witch he pulls out a knife and accidentally slices Spud's hand open as he tries to stop him from stabbing the customer who has aggravated him, finalises his decision.

The following morning Renton cautiously pries the bag of money from the sleeping Begbie. As he quietly makes for the door to escape he notices Spud's eyes are wide open, he had seen everything yet he has chosen not to say a word. This allows Renton to make a swift getaway with all the money. Now this is where the complete revelation of the character, He is now mind set on perusing that conventional life described at the beginning of the film he chose to deny. At the end of the film we see Spud open a locker in witch he find a wad of cash left for him by Renton.

The Film

Academy award winner Danny Boyle was the director of this film. He is the director also responsible for hit zombie thriller 28 days later, and the film critically acclaimed as the best film of 2008, Slum dog Millionaire. With such successful films under his belt there is no wonder why he has such an esteemed reputation within the film industry. For this film he had a budget of £3,500,000 to work with, this might seem like a large amount however when considering that most modern Hollywood blockbusters boast gargantuan budgets of over £50,000,000 it really puts into perspective how well Danny Boyle was able to efficiently manage what they were given to work with. This film did so well in fact that it was the second highest grossing film in England after Four Weddings and a Funeral in the 90's. Whilst some will praise the film's success on a low budget but on the other hand some will criticize it for the damage it caused to the British film industry. Overconfident in themselves the pioneering production house, and producers of Trainspotting, FilmFour invested millions in big-budget flops like the recent period drama Charlotte Gray. Huge loses for the company forced them to under go a "back-to-basics" approach which saw them return to a more traditional way of handling business.

This film was solemnly filmed in the UK locations only spanning London and Scotland. Although the film is set in Edinburgh only a few glimpses of the real Edinburgh are seen, when Mark Renton and Spud are being chased down Princes street is one such example, the rest of the film was mostly shot in Glasgow and some frames are scenes from London. The film was shot primarily in Glasgow because it was a very accessible place for filming, also actually getting the cast and film crew down to London for the ending scenes would have proven too costly so instead the shots from inside the hotel were actually filmed back at a set in Glasgow. The way in which Boyle has portrayed Edinurgh city remains controversial even to this day. This is mainly because when one thinks of Edinburgh such locations as Edinburgh castle, its gardens and its marsh lands come to mind, witch are all very beautiful and alone portray the city in a wonderful light, however the director has chosen to also portray the stark realities of contemporary life in the city through such settings as as cramped apartments and unhygienic toilets. As a result this creates a balance in our perceptions of the city which gives the film a strong sense of verisimilitude.

Such convincing performances by the cast was ultimately what saw this film rise to fame, and for each of the actors involved this film played a somewhat crucial role in their careers. For Ewen Bremner, this film established a character that he is most notable for playing, the character of spud was lovable and gullible witch saw the audience gain a soft spot for him. For Kevin McKidd who played hard-nut Tommy, a character whose role was filled with emotional turmoil as his demise came when he tested positive for HIV, Trainspotting was one of his first major brakes alongside Small faces, a film released in the same year. Since them McKidd is still landing lead roles in not only films but television drama's and video-games as well. Robert Carlyle's role as Psychopath Begbie is still considered one of his most high profile roles to date, he is an actor committed to his roles often known to undergo different experiences to understand his character better. Jonny Lee Miller's portrayal of sick boy was so realitic in fact it become widely believed that the English actor was actually of Scottish heritage. In the same year as the film's release he married Angelina Jolie, hit American actress. With Kelly MacDonald, who played Diane the devious schoolgirl, it is practically the same story, Trainspotting boosting her into the limelight. Starting out as a barmaid she seized her opportunity when she saw a leaflet advertising this specific role. Onwards from this film her acting career has blossomed starring in a variety of films with even more on her horizon. The actor who became the most successful of the cast is the actor who played the lead role of Mark Renton, Ewan McGregor. His portrayal of Mark Renton gave many dimensions to the character so instead of just being branded who embodied the worst of modern youth, he became very likeable and very easy for the audience to empathise with. He is now a very popular mainstream actor starring in many popular films, just some of these films include Star Wars, Moulin Rouge and Black Hawk Down.

In the UK and around Europe the company that distributed this film was called PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, The London based studio was created as a European competitor to Hollywood. It invested large amount of money in developing the European film studio with the intention to distribute these films on the same international scale as their Hollywood produced counterparts. This studio was responsible for distrubuting the highest grossing english film witch as afore mentioned is Four Weddings and a Funeral. Rather ironical, in 1999 the studio merged with Universal Pictures, the second longest lived Hollywood studio. For the US the film had a different distributing company, such company was called Miramax Films. Miramax was originally created to distribute independent films witch were not expected to yield great profit by major studios. Trainspotting with its low budget was predicted to be one such film, however the popularity of the film was widespread making it a very wise endorsement for the distribution company.

In 1996 the film won a BAFTA for best screenplay adaptation. In 1997 won two BAFTA Scotland awards, one for Best Actor (Ewen McGregor) and one for Best feature film. In this same year it also won a Bodil award for best non-american film, a Brit award for best soundtrack, an MTV award for best Breakthrough performance and 4 Empire awards. The popularity of the film is not only framed by the awards it has won but also its legacy, later in 1999 it ranked 10th out of 100 as the top British film of all time, and even more recently in 2004 was voted the best Scottish film of all time.

A film cont reversal then as it is now, the themes dealt with in this film such as illegal drug use, sex, death and violence are extreme and of an adult nature. The main characters of this film are definitely not idealistic role models witch is where the main controversy of the film arises. To some drug use in this film is portrayed very positively an as an affect advertises to young impressionable teens that drug use is fun. However solemnly taking this message from the fill would prove a heavily unbalanced observation. The main dilemma's of the film are presented as a direct result of drug use. Spud being sentenced to prison, Tommy contacting HIV, The much distressing death of baby Dawn. The film Presents itself as an educational roller coaster that depicts, in a realistic manner, the harsh realities of drug abuse. The film remains a good mix between humour and shocking lessons to be taught to anyone about drugs witch is enough to deter most people from taking them and ensuring those who have past experiences with them of why they should stay clean.