Headline: Destiny is written.
Plot: Jamal a boy from streets of mumbai reaches upto the final question of
Game show to win 20 million rupees. Last question is to be aked in next episode. But police suspects him of cheating.
How could he know all those answers while he doesnt know the name of Mahatma Gandhi printed on indian rupees? All the answers
are in history. Jamal's life from childhood is shown in flashback. And what happens on last question? Read the full story... Source: It is based on the novel Q and A written by
author and diplomat Vikas Swarup.
Film Story This movie jumps back and forth on three scenes: (1) Jamal
being interrogated by police. (2) On the set of Kaun Banega Crorepati KBC (3) flashbacks to Jamal’s life history
In Mumbai, 2006, Inspector Srinivas a fat, bald police officer, is smoking a cigar and interrogating
Jamal. Jamal is then repeatedly put in a bucket of water by the Inspector.
Next scene from KBC. Jamal is introduced to the audience as an assistant at a “telecom company.”
The game show host Prem Kumar talks to Jamal before asking the first question.
Back in police station, Jamal has been tied up and hung from the ceiling. Srinivas reports “Police
Inspector” (Irfan Khan) Jamal only told his name. Police Inspector gives him electric shock from
car battery after which Jamal faints. The Police Inspector says that Jamal must have cheated. No contestant,
not even the doctor or lawyer, has won more than 60,000 rupees. Jamal, a boy from the slums, won 10 million.
Jamal suddenly wakes up and says, “I knew the answers.”
Flashback to a scene where many children are playing in airport area. Among them are a very young Jamal
and his older brother Salim. The kids are chased by security guards back into their neighborhood.
As the guards give chase, locals are seen washing laundry in the sewage filled river while the streets in the Indian slum
are littered with trash. Salim and Jamal eventually get caught by their mom. Salim and Jamal are next seen in
a classroom, dressed in blue school uniforms. The teacher throws a book at them for disturbing the class. The
book is The Three Musketeers (important later).
Flash forward to the police station. The Inspector shows Jamal clips from KBC. Prem Kumar asks the first question
for 1,000 rupees about Amitabh Bachhan.
Flashback to Jamal’s childhood. Salim and Jamal are managing a toilet/port-o-potty, that customers pay to use.
The toilet is at the end of a long wooden plank, on top of a small hill. Just underneath the toilet is a large heap
of potty. There’s a paying customer waiting to use the toilet, but it’s currently occupied by Jamal.
The customer walks away and Salim is upset at the lost opportunity. Just then, Amitabh Bachchan flies into there
in a helicopter. All the residents rush towards Amitabh. Salim decides to play a prank on Jamal, and uses
a chair to trap him in the toilet, so he can’t get out. The only way out is by plunging into the pile of potty
underneath the toilet. Jamal takes the plunge and escapes. Covered in potty, he runs towards Amitabh. As
he fights the crowd, everyone around him steps away because of his smell. He’s manages to get the Amitabh to sign
a photograph. Still covered in potty, he jumps up in celebration.
Later, as Jamal’s mom scrubs him from head to toe, Salim secretly takes the autographed photo of Amitbah and sells
it. Jamal can’t believe what his brother has done, but Salim just says he got a good price and walks away.
Now in the police station, the Inspector and Jamal watch game show. The next question is what is India’s
most famous national phrase? Jamal doesn’t know and is forced to use a lifeline - Ask the Audience. As they
watch the clip, the Inspector can’t believe that Jamal doesn’t know the answer. Even a 5 year old could
answer that question, he says. Jamal responds by asking the Inspector if he knows who stole a bike that’s been
reported missing. Jamal knows, the entire neighborhood knows, and even a five year old knows who stole the bike, but
the Inspector doesn’t.
Back on the game show, Jamal has successfully used his lifeline to answer the question. The next question, for 4,000
rupees, is about the Hindu god Rama.
Flashback to childhood. Jamal and Salim are playing in a small pool of water that their mom is using to wash laundry.
Suddenly, an angry mob of men appear and attack the locals for being Muslim. The mob kills his mother.
Flash forward to police station, Jamal says if it weren’t for Rama and Allah, he’d still have a mother.
On the game show, he gives right answer and they’ve cut to commercial break. During the break, the game
show host tells Jamal he’s gotten lucky so far, and suggests he take the money and quit.
Flashback to childhood, Jamal and Salim find shelter from the mob in a small wooden hut. Outside, there’s
rain. A small girl, is sitting outside in the rain. Jamal invites her to their shelter. Her name is Latika,
and she’s just lost her father. They sleep in the shelter.
Back on the game show, Jamal decides to play on. The next question is who wrote “Darshan Do Ghanshayan”?
Flashback to childhood, Jamal, Salim, and Latika have now become friends, and have set up a makeshift tent in a large garbage
landfill. As Latika is picking for trash, three men approach the tent. One of the men, Maman
offers Jamal and Salim cold bottles of Coca-Cola, which they drink heartily. The three kids accept his invitation to come
with him. He takes them to a camp full of other lost children.
At the camp, the kids get to eat a big meal, and then are asked to sing for Maman. Maman promises to train each child
and make them a star. Salim gets into a fight with Jamal, after Jamal laughs at his attempt at singing.
Later in time, Jamal and Salim are driven by van to a place under an expressway where another group of homeless kids are
living. Salim takes a baby from the group of kids and takes it back to the men in the van. Jamal tries to stop
him, but Salim insists that “babies pay double.” Jamal, Salim and others then go to the streets to beg for
money.
That night, as Salim is sleeping, Latika crushes a handful of chilies and puts them down his pants. Salim wakes up
and rushes to the bathroom to wash off the burning chilies, as Latika and the other kids laugh Salim swears to get back at
Latika for the prank.
More time passes and a boy from the camp is asked to audition for Maman. By now, Salim has become one of Maman’s
trusted assistants. The boy has sung well and Maman tells him he’s now “ready.” One of Maman’s men
douses a handkerchief with petrol and covers the boy’s face with it, until he’s unconscious. The men
lie the boy on a table and pour hot water on his eyes, so that the boy become blind. (Later on, we discover that
the boy is to be put to work singing and begging on a platform.)
Witnessing this, Salim becomes sick to his stomach and throws up in the bushes. When he’s recovered, Maman
orders him to get Jamal, the next “auditioner.” Salim hesitates and Maman tells him he has to make a choice
-- Jamal or him.
Meanwhile, Jamal is telling Latika all of his plans about escaping to a better life. He thinks that all he has to
do is sing good enough and Maman will give him a good life. Salim appears and tells him its time. He takes Jamal
to Maman as Latika follows behind.
Jamal starts singing but stops abruptly and demands 50 rupees. He’s a professional now and deserves to be paid,
he says. Amused, Maman pays him and Jamal sings on. Maman quietly orders Salim to prepare the handkerchief.
Salim grabs the gasoline but abruptly throws it in Maman’s face. He tells Jamal to run. Jamal, Salim, and
Latika all run away as Maman and his men give chase. They run to a train that has just started moving. Jamal and
Salim jump onto the train. Latika is right behind them, and Salim grabs her hand, but lets go of her, making it look
as though her hand slips, and she doesn’t make it onboard. Jamal and Salim look on as Maman grabs Latika.
As the train speeds forward, Jamal demands that he and Salim go back to get Latika. But Salim tells Jamal what happened
to the other boy. In shock, Jamal says nothing, and they stay on the train.
The boys are now few years older and making a good living selling balloons to passengers on trains. They essentially
live on trains, spending time on the roof, sleeping in stowaway cabins, and stealing food. Occasionally they get kicked
off by a train conductor but just get on the next train.
Eventually, they reach the Taj Mahal. There, they discover a whole new racket. They steal the shoes of worshippers
who remove them to enter a sacred space. A European couple offers Salim money to give them a “private tour.”
He readily complies, feeding them made up stories and facts. The brothers also run a business taking photographs of
tourists. One American couple arrives in a Mercedes Benz with an Indian driver, asking the brothers to give them a tour
of the “real India.” As they do so, locals strip the Benz of its tires, engine, and other parts. When
they come back to the car and see it in its condition, the Indian driver starts beating Jamal. The white couple tells
the driver to stop and hands Jamal a $100 bill for his troubles.
Back to the game show, the next question asked is, “Who’s face is on the American $100 bill?” The
game show host thinks Jamal wouldn’t know the answer, assuming he’s never seen a $100 bill. But Jamal correctly
identifies Ben Franklin, and he’s now just won 1 million rupees.
Back at the police station, Jamal doesn’t know that Gandhi is featured on Indian currency, further leading the Inspector
to suspect that he must have cheated.
Flashback to the brothers. Jamal is now an adolescent, and he’s returned to his hometown in search of Latika.
He searches everywhere without success, but eventually lands jobs for both him and Salim working at a restaurant. Salim
can’t believe they left a good gig and came back to their childhood slum, just to try to find Latika. There are
9 million people in the city, he says. Forget about her.
As the brothers leave the restaurant, they see a blind boy singing and begging in the subway. It’s the same
boy who was blinded by Maman years earlier. Jamal recognizes the boy and gives him a $100 bill. The boy tells
him that Ben Franklin is the name of the person on the front of the bill. He touches Jamal’s face and recognizes
it’s Jamal. He tells Jamal that Latika can be found on “Cherry Street,” but can’t believe that
Jamal would go to try to find her, knowing that Maman would also be there. “I’ll be singing at your funeral,”
the blind boy yells as Jamal and Salim go to find Latika.
“Cherry Street” is clearly in a prostitution district. Jamal and Salim find Latika, who is practicing
her dancing, and dressed in a bejeweled sari. Maman appears with his men. “You really thought you could walk in
here and take my prize away?” he asks. “Do you have any idea how much a virgin girl is worth?”
He tells his men to send him away.
Before the men can get to them, Salim pulls out a gun. He points it at Maman, tells him to get on his knees
and give him all his money. Maman complies. Salim takes the money, then looks Maman in the eye, and shoots him
dead. Jamal can’t believe what Salim did. But he, Latika, and Salim run away.
Back on the game show, the next question is, “Who invented the revolver?” Jamal immediately answers,
Samuel Colt. He’s now won 2.5 million rupees.
Jamal, Salim, and Latika break into a hotel that’s been closed down. Salim starts drinking, as Jamal hangs
out in the hotel room and Latika takes a shower. Latika calls Jamal a “sweet one.” After his drinking
binge, Salim returns to the streets and tells a group of street hoodlums that he’s looking for a man named “Javed”
. The hoodlums ignore him until he pulls out a gun. At that moment, Javed, an older sophisticated, well dressed
man, appears. He tells Salim he’s been looking to hire someone like him.
Back in the hotel, Jamal tells Latika that he knew he’d find her someday -- that it’s their “destiny.”
They both fall asleep. Salim comes back in a drunken rage. It’s clear he wants Latika. Jamal and Salim
get into a scuffle, and Salim shoves him out of the hotel room. Jamal keeps knocking on the door, demanding to be let
in. Salim opens the door and pulls his gun on Jamal, telling him to leave before he counts to five, or else he’ll
shoot him. He starts counting one... two... Then, Latika pulls Salim’s arm down. She tells Jamal to
go. She gives Jamal a resigned look as Salim shuts the door.
Back to the police station. Jamal tells the Inspector he didn’t see or hear from Salim or Latika again for
a long time. When one of the police officers at the station make an off color remark about Latika, Jamal attacks him
and is forced into restraints. The Inspector clears the room and talks to Jamal one on one. He asks why he’s
willing to admit to being an accomplice to murder but refuses to admit to cheating on the show? Because when he’s
asked a question, he says the answer, Jamal replies.
Flashback again to the telecom company where Jamal now works. Several years have passed since the incident at the
hotel and Jamal is now a young adult. The company he works is an Indian call center. Jamal is a trainee who’s
being taught the geography of key places in London, England. After the class, Jamal is distributing tea to the employees,
when a friend of his asks him to cover for him at his station for just a few minutes.
Two things happen simultaneously at this point. First, Millionaire is playing on a TV in the break room.
Jamal explains to his co-workers the precise time you need to call if you want to be a contestant on the show. Second,
Jamal gets a service call from a British customer. Untrained, he bumbles his way through the call, and tries to pretend
he lives in the customer’s neighborhood. It’s clear Jamal has no idea what he’s doing. When
the customer asks to speak to his manager, Jamal hangs up.
Jamal then uses the computer’s database to search for “Latika” and for “Salim Malik.”
There are too many entries for Latika, since Jamal doesn’t know and can’t provide her last name. There are
fewer entries for Salim Malik. He starts calling them one by one. The third Salim listed in the database is his
brother. Jamal pretends to be just another agent, asking if Salim is interested in purchasing a product, but Salim recognizes
who he is.
Cut back to the game show, where Jamal is asked where Cambridge Circus is. Of course he knows the right answer is
London from his training at the call center. He’s won 5 million rupees.
Jamal and Salim agree to meet in a high rise building that is still being constructed. Salim is now working for Javed.
Javed used to be the main gangster of their slum, but the slum has now become a major business development, with a new skyline
full of high rises, and Javed has his hand on the economic boom. Jamal asks about Latika. Salim can’t believe
that Jamal is still asking about her, and tells him that Latika is “long gone.” Salim invites Jamal to stay
with him.
The next day, Jamal secretly follows Salim to Javed’s gated mansion. Inside the gate, Jamal sees Latika, who’s
now also a young adult. Jamal convinces the security guard that he’s a dishwasher who’s been hired
by Javed. The guard lets him in. Inside the house, Latika asks Jamal why he’s here. “To see
you,” he says. “You saw me, now what?” Millionaire is playing on a TV in the kitchen.
Latika has a black eye.
Javed walks in and it’s clear that Latika is Javed’s girlfriend. Javed changes the channel to a soccer
game. He orders Jamal to make him a sandwich. Jamal and Latika make the sandwich together as they talk.
He wants her to run away with him again, but Latika is reluctant. He has no plans for what they’ll do if she escapes,
she tells him. She says that she and Javed are moving to Bombay (modern day Mumbai).
Javed doesn’t like the sandwich that Jamal has made and fires him on the spot. As Jamal leaves, he tells Latika
that he’ll be at the train station every day at 5:15 pm until she comes. He tells her he loves her. “So
what?” she says, “It’s too late.”
Back on the show, the next question for Jamal is about a cricket player. Cut to a crowded train station. It’s
5:15 pm and Jamal is waiting for Latika. Miraculously, she’s arrived. But she’s been followed by Salim
and two of Javed’s thugs. Jamal desperately tries to get to Latika before Salim can, but he’s too late.
Salim and the thugs drag Latika back into their car kicking and screaming, and Jamal can only watch as they drive away.
Back on the show, it’s another commercial break. Jamal is in a bathroom stall in the men’s room while
the game show host is standing in front of a bathroom sink. The host tells Jamal that the only other person he knows
that made it from slum to millionaire is himself. Jamal confesses he doesn’t know the answer to the cricket question.
The host says he has a feeling that Jamal will win and leaves the restroom.
When Jamal comes out of the stall, he sees that the game show host has smudged the letter “B” on the bathroom
mirror. Back on the set, the host tells Jamal that this is his destiny. Just then, the commercial break is over
and the game continues. Jamal decides to use a lifeline -- 50/50. The two remaining choices are “B”
or “D.” Jamal looks at the host and tells him his answer is “D.” The host looks at him
perplexed, and asks him several times if he’s sure. He is. Final answer, D.
The game show host can’t believe it. But it turns out that Jamal was right. D was the correct choice.
He’s just won 10 million rupees. The host pretends to be thrilled. He prances around on stage then asks
Jamal if he’s ready for the final question. Before they can get to it though, time has run out for the day’s
episode. Jamal will have to come back the next day to finish his game.
After the taping, the game show host congratulates Jamal on his performance, as they walk out of the set. Just as
Jamal steps out of the building, police officers are there waiting for him. They throw a hood over his head and take
him away. The game show host looks on with a colleague. The host confesses to his friend that he fed Jamal the
wrong answer, and that he can’t believe Jamal didn’t fall for it. The friend asks why he did that.
Because, says the host, “this is MY show.”
It’s clear now that the police interrogation has happened after the first day of the taping but BEFORE the second
day, when Jamal is scheduled to try for the final question for 20 million rupees. The Police Inspector tells Jamal that
his explanation for everything that’s happened is somehow “bizarrely possible.” Jamal tells the Inspector
he doesn’t know what happened to Latika. But the reason he went on the show was because he thought she might be
watching.
In fact, Latika, Salim, and Javed are watching a local news segment about Jamal’s stint on the game show. Halfway
through the segment, Javed changes the channel to a dance station. The space becomes an instant party and several young
women start dancing seductively with Javed. Latika slips away to another room to continue watching the news. Salim
meets her there. He offers Latika the keys to his car as a means to escape. She tells him Javed will kill him
if he finds out. Salim says he’ll take care of Javed, and also gives Latika his cell phone. He asks her
for forgiveness for “what I’ve done,” as he gently strokes a long scar on the side of her face.
It’s the next day, and Jamal is an instant local celebrity. People are huddling in front of TVs to watch the
show, as Latika is desperate to drive to the set of the taping. Unfortunately, she’s run into standstill traffic
and decides to abandon the car. She watches the show from a TV displayed in an electronics storefront.
On the set, the final question is revealed: Along with Athos and Porthos, who is the third of the Three Musketeers?
Jamal has a choice--he can either try to answer the question or walk away with the 10 million rupees he won the day before.
Jamal says he doesn’t know the answer, but he’s going to play anyway. He uses his last lifeline - Phone
a Friend.
The phone line is ringing but there is no answer. Jamal tells the host that the number is to his brother Salim’s
cell phone. Just then, Latika realizes that Salim gave her his cell phone and that she left the cell phone in Salim’s
car. She starts running back to the car, desperate to answer the call. On the set of the show, they are just
about to cut the line, and the host tells Jamal, “It looks like you’re on your own,” when, at the last second,
Latika answers the phone.
Again, several things happen at once at this point. Jamal is initially confused since he expected Salim to answer.
He asks if it’s really her, and she says yes. Meanwhile, Javed has been watching the show, and he realizes that
Latika has escaped.
It’s clear that Jamal and Latika are overjoyed to hear from each other. Jamal asks whether she is safe, and
she says yes. The host reminds him he only has 15 seconds on his lifeline. Jamal asks her the question about the
Three Musketeers. But she doesn’t know the answer. Just as the line is being cut, Latika says, "God will
help you" to Jamal in Hindi (no substitles).
At this point, Jamal stops caring about the game. He makes a guess out of the blue - choice A, “Aramis,”
final answer. The host asks him why he picked A. Just because, he says. After a long pause, it’s revealed
that A is the correct answer. Jamal has won 20 million rupees!
Meanwhile, Salim has locked himself in a bathroom. He’s sitting in the bathtub that is filled with rupees.
Javed breaks into the bathroom with his thugs. Salim is waiting for him and kills Javed as soon as he storms in.
A few seconds later, Javed’s thugs shoot Salim dead. Salim’s dying words are, “God is great."
Elsewhere else, there’s celebration on the streets as viewers watch Jamal win the game. Jamal is handed a giant
check for 20 million rupees.
Finally, we see Jamal wandering a train station alone. In the distance, Latika is there searching for him.
Jamal sees her and starts running towards her. As he runs, you see flashbacks of scenes from the movie of his childhood.
They embrace at the center platform of the station. “I knew you’d be watching,” he says. He
kisses the scar on her face. “This is our destiny,” he says. “Kiss me,” she replies.
They share a cinematic kiss.
Fade to black. On the bottom of the screen are the words: “D. It is written.”
THE END Slumdog millionaire story
