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10th Jan '13 4:33:43 AM Craver357

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[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Slumdog_Millionaire_poster.jpg]]
->'''Police Inspector:''' Doctors... Lawyers... never get past 60 thousand rupees. He's won 10 million. What can a slumdog possibly know?\\
'''Jamal Malik:''' ''[quietly]'' The answers.

A 2008 film directed by DannyBoyle based on the novel ''{{Q and A}}'' by Vikas Swarup.

Jamal Malik is on the verge of winning 20 million rupees on the Indian version of ''WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''. There's just one problem: he's a "slumdog," working at a minimum wage job, and nobody can see how he knew ''any'' of the answers. As they go through each question, he shows how events in his childhood and life contributed to his knowing almost every single one.

Notable for being quite [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]], but starring an absolute idealist and [[spoiler:having a mostly happy ending]].

Please note, that apart from the dance number at the end, this is not a {{Bollywood}} film. It's a Western movie made in Mumbai. It does, however, have several references to Indian culture and Bollywood movies--including songs that have been used in other movies, a credits sequence made to look like old-fashioned movie posters and a reference to legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan (not to mention using two well-known Bollywood actors in the film).

Even though critically acclaimed internationally, over the next few years the movie attained widespread HateDom and SnarkBait status in India, with numerous {{Take That}}s from other Indian movies; mostly because Danny Boyle managed to hit just about every single Bollywood cliche in it, while turning the "Violent Mumbai" stereotype UpToEleven to create the film's dark and cynical atmosphere. It didn't help that the word "Slumdog" became a kind of euphemism for not just Indians but South Asians in general, (''Series/{{Community}}'', anyone?) never mind the fact that it's an insult, even to people who live in slums.
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!!This film has examples of the following tropes:

* AdaptationDistillation: Though there are a lot of things different from the book (including the main character's name - in the book it's Ram Mohammad Thomas), the film manages to condense most of it down and still be good.
** It also drifts into PragmaticAdaptation zone.
** The book could not use the actual ''Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'', but the film version could, due to it being made by the original producers of the series. (However, they had sold the rights to the franchise by the time the film was released.)
* AdaptationInducedPlothole: Jamal is constantly at risk of losing everything if he answers a single question wrong. This would make sense for a fictional game show, which can set its own rules, but the American version of ''WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' provides benchmarks that, once passed, guarantee the contestant some amount of money, even if they get a wrong answer.
* AloofBigBrother: Salim
* AwardBaitSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzTUQto3_0c "Dreams on Fire"]] is a by-the-book song of this kind... but the one that actually won awards, "Jai-Ho", might count.
* BaitTheDog: The men who "recruit" the beggar children at first seem like nice guys (albeit certainly criminals); they're actually despicable villains.
** The ''Millionaire'' host was jealous because like Jamal he was a slumdog who came to some success. And he would rather have the show [[ItsAllAboutMe be about him]].
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:The quiz host attempts to pull one of these on Jamal and it backfires spectacularly. Which actually turns it into an accidental SecretTestOfCharacter.]]
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: [[spoiler:''D. [[MemeticMutation It is written ]].'']]
* BerserkButton: Jamal is probably one of the sweetest, kindest, and most honest and trusting people you could ever have the fortune to meet. Nevertheless, if you ever insult or harm Latika, he ''will'' do his level best to kick your ass.
* BilingualBonus: There are a lot of curse words in the beginning the subtitles decided to leave out.
** The Hindi song ''Ringa Ringa'', which plays when Jamal and Salim find Latika in their teens is about a woman who was forced into sex by a sleezy guy, fitting as Latika was about to become a prostitute and have her virginity sold off.
* BookDumb: Jamal and Salim, literally due to poor schooling. They know the names of two out of Literature/{{the Three Musketeers}}, and can pick up enough history of the Taj Mahal to sound convincing, and run a small racket at age 13 or so; see Informed Flaw.
* CainAndAbel: Jamal and Salim eventually.
* ChekhovsArmory: Every single event in Jamal's life. Every single one.
* ConMan: Part of Jamal's youth is spent pretending to be a tour guide and making up the history as he goes along.
* CreativeClosingCredits: Specifically, a Bollywood dance sequence. "Jai-ho!"
* DancePartyEnding
* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster
* DawsonCasting: Avoided with Jamal (18-year old Dev Patel playing an 18-year old). Played straight with Latika (Freida Pinto was 25 then).
* {{Determinator}}: Jamal.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Latika plays a prank on Salim, putting chillies on his privates as he sleeps. Salim, in revenge, ''abandons her to a life of slavery, sexual harassment, and abuse at the hands of an evil gangster.''
** Note to mention the [[PoliceBrutality Police]] [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing]] Jamal...because he allegedly [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking cheated]] at WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire. SeriousBusiness indeed.
* TheDulcineaEffect: Given the amount of time the film covers vs. the amount of time Jamal and Latika are together, plus the lengths Jamal is willing to go to find her, I'd say this trope fits.
** It's not entirely clear how long the kids spent together the first time, but it seems to have been a while. Given how things were left off (with her in the hands of the vicious slavers), it's perhaps not surprising that Jamal would be obsessed with rescuing her. Now, Jamal and Latika's ''romantic'' devotion developing over the course of a few hours in their second time together is a better fit.
* EarnYourHappyEnding
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: When we first meet Jamal, he's trying to catch a ball playing cricket. Salim is yelling at him to catch it, then Jamal fails from no fault of his own. Salim yells at him. They high five a few seconds later.
* EyeScream: The beggars get their eyes [[spoiler:burned out]] to make more money.
* FakeNationality: Ethnically Indian Brit Dev Patel as Jamal.
* TheFagin: Maman [[BaitTheDog initially seems to be the nice version]] who takes in children to sing for money on the streets. [[spoiler: But blinds them to make them look more sympathetic.]]
* FamousLastWords: 
--> '''[[spoiler:Salim Malik]]:''' God is great.
* FanDisservice: Jamal gets a ShirtlessScene...Hanging upside down and being tortured for cheating (when he's not).
* FeigningIntelligence: The two brothers feign expertise on all sorts of stuff to get by (and learn what they didn't know in the process). Thing is, both are actually pretty smart, [[BookDumb if unlettered]].
* GoodScarsEvilScars: despite [[spoiler:being attacked by a group of gangsters who obviously intend to disfigure her,]] Latika receives a single elegant slash across her face which heals cleanly, and actually ''accentuates her cheekbones''. Logically, of course, no one would want an ugly prostitute. Concept art even shows the artist clearly trying to find the prettiest version of the scar.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Salim.
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Latika
* IRememberBecause: Essentially the entire plot of the movie.
* ImagineSpot: When Jamal meets his brother again after a few years, he imagines [[spoiler:rushing him off the roof and killing them both]].
* InformedFlaw: Jamal's supposed lack of education and knowledge as a slumdog is lampshaded so many times, despite all evidence to the contrary it goes beyond BookDumb into this. (heck, with their smarts the brothers could get jobs working in the {{Bollywood}} equivalent of a spy film. Or an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's Kim)
** Knowledge and intelligence are two different things. That's likely the ''point''. And remember, no one expects much from a "slumdog". Neither brother is dumb, but everyone thinks they are unless they prove otherwise.
* InMysteriousWays
* IronicEcho: When Maman is first torturing the children he says "Maman never forgets". Later, when he's grovelling for his life, Salim throws this back at him. Maman says that he can make an exception but Salim ignores him and blows his head off.
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: When the police think Jamal cheated, they use ElectricTorture on him to make him confess. Particularly disturbing is that they're so casual about it, you get the impression they do this all the time.
** As an Indian, I have to say that's pretty realistic. They're Mumbai Police. They DO do this all the time. But sorta, kinda, understandable as they get paid peanuts to put their lives on the line against ruthless gangsters who usually have political connections. The Bollywood movie ''Gangajal'' deals with this topic.
* JeopardyIntelligenceTest: And how.
* {{Jerkass}}: Salim was a total dick to Jamal when they were younger, like locking him in an outhouse to prevent him from seeing his favorite actor, and stealing Jamal's autograph of said actor and selling it. And that whole business of [[spoiler:dooming Latika to prostitution.]]
** The ''Millionaire'' host as signs of this. He happily mocks Jamal for being an assistant at a call center and calls him a "chaiwalah" (approximately it means tea maker but is used as a derogatory term here), all in the name of entertainment. 
* KickTheDog: Salim. Repeatedly.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Salim's StartOfDarkness is killing [[spoiler:Maman, the evil child slaver.]]
* LastStand: [[spoiler:Salim in a bathtub filled with money.]] Two reasons; [[spoiler:it gives him a chance to get the drop on whoever was coming in first(likely his boss) as they take a few seconds to try and figure out what's going on, and if he has to go out, he'd prefer to go out in a manner people are going to talk about for ''years''.]]
* LifeImitatesArt: Actors Dev Patel (Jamal) and Freida Pinto (Latika) are now a real-life couple.
* LipLockSunBlock: The final kiss.
* MistakenForSpecialGuest: Jamal uses this to his advantage on several occasions.
* NecessaryFail: Good thing your life sucked so much, Jamal.
* NeutralFemale: Latika, especially when they're kids and Jamal and Salim are fighting.
* NeverTrustATrailer: It takes long for Jamal's suffering to be overcome by the happiness promised by the previews and blurbs...
* NobodyPoops: Subverted. Heavily. Specifically, Salim locks Jamal in an outhouse above a river as revenge for losing him a few bucks, just when a movie star shows up. Jamal is forced to jump into crap higher than his head to get out.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted. Jamal searches the name "Latika" in the phone listings and gets over 26 000 results. Even when he searches "Salim K Malik" he gets about ten results.
* OperatorFromIndia: Jamal works at one of these places. The English cultural teaching is portrayed with some accuracy.
* OrderedToCheat: [[spoiler:The host of the show attempts to gets Jamal out of the game by deliberately giving him the wrong answer on a mirror during his bathroom break. Suspicious of his motives and with only two possible answers left, Jamal chooses the other answer instead of the one given to him.]]
* OrphanageOfFear: Oh yes.
* PaintingTheMedium: The portrayals of the main characters get more and more realistic as Jamal gets older. This is because as he matures, he better understands what is going on instead of turning it into caricature.
* PlotTailoredToTheParty: The questions with Jamal's flashbacks. See Someday This May Come In Handy.
* PornStache: Prem Kumar. It helps that [[Creator/AnilKapoor the actor portraying him]] is famous for it within Bollywood.
* RaceForYourLove: Latika's [[spoiler:desperate dash to get to the phone in time, in a variation on the usual trope.]]
* RadioContest: How Jamal gets on the show.
* RagsToRiches: Subverted since [[spoiler: Jamal doesn't really care about winning the money, he just goes on the show in order to find Latika]].
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Salim, Jamal's brother, ''invokes'' this to make up for all the crap he put him through.]] In a [[spoiler: bathtub full of money]] no less.
* RedLightDistrict: Jamal and Salim as teenagers visit one to find Latika.
* ReverseCerebusSyndrome: Opens with a DownerBeginning, has many dark moments (specially in flashbacks), but it all leads to a happy ending.
* RuleOfRomantic: Why the movie's portrayal of ''Who Wants to be a Millionaire'' bears little to no resemblance to how the show actually works.
* SayMyName: '''[[MemeticMutation LATIKA!]]'''
* ShallowLoveInterest: Latika.
* ShownTheirWork: The movie star in the beginning who Jamal gets an autograph from is played by a double of the actual actor. Both the real actor and double sign with their left hand. The director mentions it in the commentary.
* SiblingYinYang
* SingleTargetSexuality: Jamal doesn't seem to realize other females even ''exist.''
* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: Salim, despite having more screentime than Latika. When Madhur Mittal, who plays the adult Salim, was asked about this he said the studio wanted to promote the film as a love story.
* SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty: The slums are gritty, the quiz show is shiny.
* SmarmyHost
* SmugSnake: The quiz show host.
* SomedayThisWillComeInHandy: Every. Single. Experience that Jamal has helps him answer the questions on the quiz show.
* StreetUrchin: During their late childhood to adolescence, Jamal and Salim are like this, conning tourists among other things. 
* StarCrossedLovers: Jamal and Latika
* SuddenMusicalEnding
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: Salim]] keeps taking levels in badass throughout the entire movie.
** And Jerkass.
* TranslationConvention: Even the ''[[UpToEleven kids at the slum]]'' speak English to each other.
** [[JustifiedTrope Completely justified, though]] as English is an official language of India and it's incredibly widely spoken.
** Not as much as you would think. Except in the higher classes, they'd mostly speak the regional language. So no, not justified.
* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Jamal, Salim, and Latika
* VictoriousChildhoodFriend: Latika
* VirginTension: When Jamal first tries to rescue Latika.
* [[spoiler:WealthyEverAfter: Jamal himself at the end.]]
* WhenSheSmiles: It's one of the earliest, most memorable shots in the film, and it's not given context until about two-thirds through.
* AWorldHalfFull: India is presented in such a fashion in this movie, quite unflinchingly. Although there are hints it is getting better.
** "That...Used to be our slum. We used to live right there, man. Now, it's all business. India is at the center of the world now, bhai."
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11th Dec '12 9:21:24 AM StarValkyrie

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10th Dec '12 8:18:04 AM Craver357

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8th Dec '12 11:25:50 PM Antwan

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