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Invitation to a preview of Slumdog Millionaire
December 30, 2008
The film that critics around the world are talking about!
Danny Boyle's well-earned reputation as one of Britain's most versatile directors will be further cemented by his latest feature, Slumdog Millionaire. Based on Vikas Swarup's best selling novel, Q&A, and adapted for the screen by Full Monty scriptwriter Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire is a vibrant, modern love story set and shot in India.
Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's ‘‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’
Arrested on suspicion of cheating, he tells the police the incredible story of his life on the streets, and of the girl he loved and lost.
But what is a kid with no interest in money doing on the show? And how is it he knows all the answers
See the film first, before it opens nationwide (see details below)
It's the moment of truth in the studio of India’s smash hit TV show ‘‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’
Before a hushed studio audience, and standing under the blazing studio lights, 18-year-old Mumbaislum kid Jamal Malik faces his final question - and the chance to win a staggering 20 million rupees.
The show's host Prem Kumar has little sympathy for this rags-toriches contestant. Having clawed his own way up from the streets, Prem doesn't like the prospect of sharing the Millionaire limelight, and refuses to believe that a kid from the slums could know all the answers.
When the show runs out of time and breaks for the night, Prem already has the police waiting outside the studio to arrest Jamal, who he is sure must be cheating.
Interrogating the contestant through the night, the Inspector of Police finds that Jamal is as confused as anyone else by how far he has come in the contest. They revisit the questions one by one; Jamal explains how he came to know each answer.
As he does so, the extraordinary story of his young life begins to emerge.
Jamal’s is a story of modern India. Growing up in the slums of Mumbai, as a young boy his mother is killed in a religious uprising.
Jamal finds himself living by his wits on the streets with Salim, his older brother, and Latika, an orphaned girl Jamal comes to care for, and as they grow older, to love.
Jamal’s picaresque childhood, lived out on the poorest fringes of the city doesn't tarnish his good-hearted nature.
But his brother Salim hungers for wealth and power.
Tensions and rivalries between the brothers intensify as they grow into young adults, until a betrayal forces the three friends apart, and Jamal loses Latika, just as he realises he truly loves her.
When he finds her again, things have changed irrevocably. Salim is working for a violent gangster - and this gang lord has married Latika.
Jamal puts everything on the line to free the love of his life, only to lose her, and his brother, again.
Despite himself, gradually the hostile Inspector is drawn into Jamal’s story - and starts to believe that this ‘slum dog’ is actually telling the truth. In a final exchange we learn the real reason behind
Jamal's decision to appear on the show in the first place.
Finally convinced, the Inspector releases him to go back onto the show, to answer the final question.
Overnight the story of Jamal's dream run on the show and his subsequent arrest has turned him into a media sensation.
On the other side of the city, Salim and Latika see Jamal on the news.
Shocked into conscience, Salim sets Latika free from her violent husband’s imprisonment, knowing full well that this seals his own fate.
Latika drives across the city to the studio, while Jamal returns to the hot seat for the final question, but she is caught up in Mumbai's gridlocked traffic.
As the whole of Indai watches, breathless, Jamal asks if he can phone a friend, He dials the only number he knows - his brother’s mobile phone. The phone, which Salim gave to Latika for her escape rings... and Latika picks up.
The lovers are, at last, together.
See the film before anyone else...
To get tickets to a special preview before the film opens simply go to: www.focusonmovies.co.uk and enter code: 864474
Previews are on 4th January 2009 at the Reading Showcase
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