Tuesday, December 7, 2010



Slumdog Millionaire is about an 18 year old boy named Jamal Malik. He grew up in the slums of Mumbai where the living conditions were horrible. He ended up losing his mother at a very young age and had to grow up on his own. He spent most of his days wandering the slums with his brother Salim. They were always looking for food and money and did whatever they could to survive. They did not have a home and would sleep anywhere that they could find shelter. One day when they were laying under a tunnel, they met a girl named Latika. Jamal invited her to come inside the tunnel so that she could get out of the rain. Jamal had a crush on Latika. Then Jamal, Salim, and Latika were brought to an orphanage. They did not want to be there anymore so they all ran away  one night. Jamal and Salim ran and hopped on a train but Latika was not fast enough and didn't make it. Jamal never forgot about her and thought about Latika everyday. Jamal and his brother eventually made it to India and made money by taking pictures of tourists and giving tours of the Taj Mahal. Jamal ended up going on a game show in India called Who Wants to be a Millionaire. He went on the show because he was hoping that Latika would see him on there while she was watching the show. He kept getting all of the answers right and no one could figure out why. He knew all of the answers because they were from experiences that he had during his childhood. He was interrogated by the police because they thought that he was cheating on the show. They tormented him to see if they could get anything out of him but it didn't work. They finally let him go and he was allowed back on the show. Jamal got the final question right and won 20 million rupees. He went back to the train station and that is where him and Latika were reunited again.









Jamal grew up in the slums and was extremely poor, but that is how most of the population in India lives. In India there are 645 million people living in poverty, which is 55% of the population. There are more poor people living in India than in Africa. Most of the people live on about only $2.00 a day. Many children are underweight, malnourished and anemic. In Mumbai most of the people that live there are very poor and live in the slums. There are reasons why there are so many people living in poverty. There is not a lot of jobs and a lot of the population is unemployed. There is a high population growth. There is a lack of access to health care and education. The living conditions are not sanitary.

The type of media shown in this film was television. The movie featured a show called Who Wants to be a Millionaire. In India a lot of people would watch game shows. Jamal was lucky enough to end up on a game show and won. In India people hope that they can win a game show because it is the only way that they can have a better life. In America we go on game shows wanting to win some extra cash. We never think that being on a game show could change our whole lives. If Jamal didn't win the game show he might have never been able to get out of the slums and have a better life.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe_Esf8XJ_c&feature=related