Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan.It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A (2005) by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup.
Set and filmed in India, Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of a young man from the slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Kaun Banega Crorepati, mentioned in the Hindi version) and exceeds people's expectations, arousing the suspicions of the game show host and of law enforcement officials.
After its world premiere at Telluride Film Festival and subsequent screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival and the London Film Festival, Slumdog Millionaire initially had a limited North American release on 12 November 2008 by Fox Searchlight Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, to critical acclaim and awards success. It later had a nationwide grand release in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2009 and in the United States on 23 January 2009. It premiered in Mumbai on 22 January 2009.
Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 2009 and won eight, the most for any film of 2008, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Original Song.
It also won five Critics' Choice Awards, four Golden Globes, and seven BAFTA Awards, including Best Film. Slumdog Millionaire has stirred controversy concerning language use, its portrayals of Indians and Hinduism, and the welfare of its child actors.
VOCABULARY:
diplomat - someone whose job is to live in another country and to keep a good relationship between their government and that country's government
slums - a poor and crowded area of a city where the buildings are in a very bad condition
subsequent - happening after something else
QUESTIONS:
1. What is your impression of India and its people?
2. Have you seen Slumdog Millionaire? If so, in a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest), how would you rate it?
3. Do you think this movie deserves to win the Academy Awards' Best Picture?
4. Have you seen the gameshow, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
5. Are there also a lot of game shows in Korea? What are the most popular ones?
6. Have you ever joined a game show? Please tell me about your experience.
Would you ever join a game show?
7. Are there slum areas in South Korea?
Have you seen the condition of the people living in the slums?
8. Aside from trying their luck by joining game shows, in what other ways can poor people improve their lives?