Is there any other film that has won Best Picture at the Oscars that has divided people so much as 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire? Perhaps, but when it comes to this film there is a vocal minority that are very passionate against this film. When it first released, sentiment was high. However, in the years since, many have turned against it, citing cultural appropriation, racial stereotypes, and a story that relies heavily on coincidence to push its narrative through to the inevitable conclusion. Having Danny Boyle, an white English man, at the helm didn’t help that sentiment. The film is set in India, without having a native directing it. For some, that brings back echoes of the past; colonialism all over again.
Western audiences were mostly positive towards the film at the time, seeing it as an uplifting film about love and triumph over poverty as well as the dangers of falling ion with the wrong people. This kind of sentimentality works on audiences who want to think that given the right circumstances, anyone can find a way out of the slums. It’s the American dream after all, though this dream really is universal. This film was playing up on that emotion, presenting a feel-good story surrounded by some very dark moments.
The film is framed around Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a young man who is a contestant on India’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. But after he wins the grand prize, he is accused of cheating and beaten in an attempt to get him to confess and explain how he cheated. Instead, he provides them with his life story, including specific events that led to him knowing the answers to most of the questions asked him on the show. These moments are told to us in flashback.
This backstory starts in his childhood with his brother, Salim, the two being raised by their mother. During the Bombay riots, their mother is killed, leaving the two homeless. They are then found by Maman, a gangster looking to exploit the youth for his own purposes along with many others he has picked up off the streets. This includes sussing out the best singers, blinding them, and putting them on the streets to earn money from passing travelers. For the girls, they are groomed for the sex trade. One of these girls, a close friend of Jamal’s, is Latika.
Jamal and Salim escape this situation by fleeing and stowing away on a train, though Latika is captured, and find themselves at the Taj Mahal where they steal shoes and scam tourists to get by. Years pass by and a chance encounter with one of the blinded kids they left behind leads Jamal to Latika’s location as she is being prepared to be prostituted out. The brothers rescue her with Salim killing Maman in the process. Salim soon afterwards kicks Jamal out on the streets again and they lose contact with each other; Jamal finding work while Salim makes contacts with a gangster and follows a life of crime. Meanwhile, Jamal keeps trying to find Latika again, hoping that the girl he once knew is still out there.
Slumdog Millionaire was lauded upon its release for its portrayal of the slums of Mumbai, though some felt that it relied too much on unfortunate stereotypes and generic tropes to appease a broader audience. But, taking those nitpicks away, what we have is a story as universal as they come. In fact, the rags to riches plot, when distilled down to the basics, really isn’t all that original. But that doesn’t really matter because it is all about how a film makes you feel, not so much whether the story is all that original.
It is based loosely on Indian author Vikas Swarup’s novel Q & A, released in 2005. While the backbone of the story is there in that book, what came out of it differs in many ways. The film brought to a greater audience Indian cinema, known as Bollywood, which in many ways rivals Hollywood. This was an era before the widespread popularity of streaming services, and many people didn’t have access to foreign films to the degree they do now. This film got people to go see a film style they wouldn’t have otherwise seen. It debuted at Telluride, where it was met with acclaim, securing distribution rights from Warner Independent Pictures. But when WIP shut down before the movie could be released, Warner Bros. Pictures, its parent studio, too, over. They were less enthusiastic about the film’s prospects and intended to release it straight to home video. Fox Searchlight Pictures eventually stepped in, taking 50% of the interest in the film and securing theatrical rights. This would prove to be meteoric for the picture, ensuring that it was eligible for the Academy Awards.
With that in play, and good, solid word-of-mouth, the movie hit the ground running and made more than twenty times its budget back in rentals. It also took the Oscars by storm, winning Best Picture. While the 2009 Oscars weren’t the most competitive year in that category, there are some good, solid runners in that mix. Still, it was virtually a foregone conclusion that Slumdog Millionaire was going to be victorious in the end.
There is just something about the power of the human spirit and the universal language of love that allows a film such as this to resonate, even when the story is based in a culture so many of us are unfamiliar with. That is also why opinions have shifted somewhat in recent years. We live in a world that has far more access to other cultures than we did in 2008. Films like 2022’s RRR provide a more authentic representation of Bollywood while also appealing to a wide range of viewers. Yet Slumdog Millionaire, while a bit dated, still has the power to uplift.
It’s a bit too dismissive of this film to focus so much on what little it did wrong. So much of this film celebrates India and the beauties of that country. There is a cultural divide between the middle/lower class and the upper class that grew all the more apparent the more the population boom forced the two classes into proximity with each other. This mixing of classes features heavily in the second half of the film as well as in the framing story on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as the lower class Jemal wins the hearts of the country, rich and poor alike, as he successfully answers the questions, working his way up to the grand prize. But all he is really there for is to fuel his hope that Latika will see him on TV and find a way to contact him.
It would be incorrect to say that I don’t particularly care that some find Slumdog Millionaire offensive for one reason or another. I still find it uplifting to the point that I can overlook its flaws and enjoy it for what it is. There are a lot of dark moments in this film, but when we get to the end, as Dev Patel and Freida Pinto dance to the Oscar-winning Jai Ho, I want to be there too, joining in on their dance and celebrating the beauty that is in the world, even when there is also ugliness. That song, and the film itself, lifts up my spirit, and I want to celebrate that joy they are feeling as they dance their way through the credits.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Christian Colson (won)
Best Director: Danny Boyle (won)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy (won)
Best Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle (won)
Best Film Editing: Chris Dickens (won)
Best Original Score: A. R. Rahman (won)
Best Original Song: “Jai Ho” by A. R. Rahman and Gulzar (won)
Best Original Song: “O Saya” by A. R. Rahman and M.I.A.
Best Sound Editing: Glenn Freemantle and Tom Sayers
Best Sound Mixing: Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke, and Ian Tapp (won)
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Release Date: August 30, 2008
Running Time: 120 minutes
Rated R
Starring: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor, and Irrfan Khan
Directed by: Danny Boyle
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