Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British drama film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan, and produced by Christian Colson. Set and filmed in India, it is a loose adaptation of the novel Q & A (2005) by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup, telling the story of Jamal Malik, age 18, from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. As a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? who is able to answer every stage correctly, he is accused of cheating. Jamal recounts his history, illustrating how he is able to answer each question.

After its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival and later screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival and the London Film Festival,Slumdog Millionaire had a nationwide release in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2009, in Mumbai on 22 January 2009, and in the United States on 23 January 2009.

Regarded as a sleeper hit, Slumdog Millionaire was widely acclaimed, being praised for its plot, soundtrack and direction. Nominated for ten Academy Awards in 2009 and winning eight—the most for any 2008 film—including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It won seven BAFTA Awards including Best Film, five Critics' Choice Awards and four Golden Globes.

Slumdog Millionaire: Music from the Motion Picture

Slumdog Millionaire: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack album of the British drama film of the same name, directed by Danny Boyle. The original score and songs were composed by A. R. Rahman, who planned the score in two months and completed it in 20 days, a far shorter time period than usual. The soundtrack has won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, BAFTA Award for Best Film Music, and two Academy Awards, one for Best Original Music Score and the other for Best Original Song for "Jai Ho". The soundtrack has also won two Grammy Awards, one for the album itself and another for the song "Jai Ho".

Development

Rahman has stated that he was aiming for "mixing modern India and the old India" with the music (see Music of India), but that the film and soundtrack "isn’t about India or Indian culture. The story could happen anywhere." The film's director Danny Boyle, who "hated sentiment" and told Rahman "Never put a cello in my film", wanted a "pulsey" score. Rahman appreciated that Boyle liked how Indian films mix music, saying the director wanted "edgy, upfront" music that did not suppress sound. Composing pieces to fit the images, he noted: "There’s not many cues in the film. Usually a big film has 130 cues. This had just seventeen or eighteen: the end credits, beginning credits." Describing the music as one of the parts he liked most in the film, Boyle wanted to include M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" from early on in production on the score, which appears along with an original track Rahman composed, "O...Saya," featuring the artist. M.I.A., who Rahman described as a "powerhouse" gave brief film notes on some scenes to Boyle upon request during editing. The track "Ringa Ringa" was done as a tribute to the famous Laxmikant-Pyarelal song "Choli Ke Peeche" from the 1993 movie Khal Nayak. Rahman has attributed part of the success of the film soundtrack to Arulpragasam.