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.