Academy Award for Best Picture

2008

Slumdog Millionaire

Release dates

August 30, 2008 

(Telluride Film Festival)

January 9, 2009 

(United Kingdom)

January 23, 2009 

(India)

Starring

Dev Patel

Freida Pinto

Madhur Mittal

Anil Kapoor

Irrfan Khan

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British Indian drama 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, the film tells the story of Jamal Malik, a young man from the Juhu slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Kaun Banega Crorepati in the Hindi version) and exceeds people's expectations, thereby arousing the suspicions of cheating; Jamal recounts in flashback how he knows the answer to each question, each one linked to a key event in his life.

After its world premiere at Telluride Film Festival and later screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival and the London Film Festival, Slumdog Millionaire 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.

A sleeper hit, Slumdog Millionaire was widely acclaimed, being praised for its plot, soundtrack and directing. In addition, it was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 2009, winning eight, the most for any film of 2008, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also won seven BAFTA Awards (including Best Film), five Critics' Choice Awards, and four Golden Globes.