Slumdog Millionaire (Book & Movie Review)

“Do you notice when you breathe? No. You simply know that you are breathing. I did not go to school. I did not read books. But I tell you, I knew those answers.” [pg 18]


Slumdog Millionaire (aka Q&A) by Vikas Swarup
Scribner, 2005
Fiction; 318 pgs

Challenge Commitment Fulfilled: New Authors Challenge & Buy One Book and Read It Challenge

It was a spur of the moment decision to read Vikas Swarup’s novel when I did. I tend to prefer to read the book before seeing the movie it is based on, but I hadn’t known until recently that the movie was actually based on a book. In cases like this, when I really want to see the movie in the theater, I often times will just go ahead and see the movie anyway. The book will have to wait. Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on a copy of Slumdog Millionaire, so titled after the movie no less. The original title of the book is Q&A. Perhaps not quite as salable but still more accurate when it comes right down to it.

I loved the book. I loved the movie. Slumdog Millionaire is both a love story and a coming of age story. The book and movie are very different from one another, while at the same time sharing a similar structure and commonalities that will be easily recognizable to those who have watched and read the two formats. And yet, the two are different enough from each other to be completely different stories all together, at least content wise. For those who are nitpicky about book to movie translations, you might want to put some distance between reading the book and watching the movie. The two are worth taking in though. Both the movie and book tell stories that will pull at your heart strings, make you laugh and cry, and make you fall in love. At least, that’s how it was for me.

In Vikas Swarup’s novel, set in India, Ram Mohammad Thomas was abandoned by his mother when he was an infant. He was left on the church doorstep, taken in by the church, adopted by a family, and then abandoned again. During his early childhood he was raised by a priest but then, due to unfortunate circumstances, he was ripped away from all he knew and his life took an entirely different direction.

The book opens with Thomas being arrested and then tortured by the police, accused of cheating on the game show, Who Will Win a Billion? He won by answering twelve questions, questions an uneducated street boy couldn’t possibly have had the answers for all on his own. Or could he?

Sticklers for novels told in chronological order may struggle with this one at first. The unfolding of the story comes in a roundabout way, the chapters structured around each of the questions asked on the quiz show. With every question, Thomas tells his life story, the story of how he knew the answers that would end up winning him a billion rupees. The chapters, therefore, jump back and forth through time, not always following a chronological path. I had no trouble following the story, however, and actually found the format of the story quite effective. It was the perfect set up for what was to come.

Thomas is an amazing boy. His life has been extremely difficult. He has seen things that no child should have to see. He is street wise and yet has a good heart. He is a loyal friend. After leaving the church, Thomas is sent to an orphanage where he befriends Salim, a Muslim orphan boy whose family was brutally murdered right in front of him. Thomas takes Salim under his wing and the two are, for a time, inseparable.

Thomas meets many people as he is growing up. He travels across India doing his best to survive. He lives off of the streets, serves the wealthy, is taken in by those with kind hearts and treated ill by those up to no good. Even in the worst of times, Thomas seems to come out of every situation okay, although perhaps a little more weary of the world.

I came away from the novel with tears in my eyes, touched by not only Thomas’ story, but by those whose lives he touched. It truly was an inspirational story. Slumdog Millionaire (aka Q&A) is well worth reading.

What does it take to find a lost love?
A. Money
B. Luck
C. Smarts
D. Destiny
[from the movie]

The movie told a slightly different story. The love story was more prominent and there were fewer characters, but the overall feel of the two were similar. Jamal Malik is on the verge of winning the game show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, when he is accused of cheating and taken in for questioning by police. He has just one question to go.

Jamal and his older brother Salim lived with their mother in the slums of Mumbai up until their mother was murdered by Hindu rioters out to rid the area of Muslims. The boys and a neighborhood girl named Latika were able to get away. They take to a life on the streets, struggling to survive as best they can. The brothers are eventually separated from Latika, but Jamal never forgets her and is determined to find her, whatever it takes.

The movie unfolds in a similar vein as the book, only in more of a chronological order. With each question, the movie flashbacks to Jamal’s childhood. The movie was even darker in some respects than the book. Not only in images but in storyline as well. Life is not pretty in either the book or movie—it is harsh and often cruel. The adventures and encounters in the movie as compared to the book diverge completely in some areas, while still maintaining some minor similarities all the while. There is a definite combining of characters and the occasional life story. Even the motive for the protagonist going onto the game show in the first place is not the same.

In the movie, Jamal’s relationship with his brother grows more complex as the story unfolds. Here are two boys that were inseparable, experiencing many of the same situations, and yet their lives take very different paths. Jamal is honest and well meaning while his brother is more callous, hardened by the streets. Regardless, the two still are brothers, a tie that links them together irrevocably.

Although the character of Jamal was my favorite in the movie, I also took an instant liking to Latika. She was confident and a true survivor. I did not feel I got to know her quite as well as I might have liked but it was obvious she and Jamal belonged together even as she stood in the pouring rain as a young girl, waiting to be invited into the shelter by the brothers who had led her to safety.

The actors, both young and old, did an amazing job. The older Jamal, played by Dev Patal, had such an innocent and honest look about him that serves the role well. The two boys who played the brothers, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (Salim) and Ayush Mahesh Khedekar (Jamal) stole my heart the instant I first saw them playing cricket on the runway. I especially loved the ending, as the credits began to scroll across the screen. The cast of the movie sang and danced in true Bollywood fashion. It seemed quite fitting. And of course, my husband and I raced to the store after the movie to buy a copy of the great soundtrack. I haven't felt the urge to do that in a long time.

In this case, I really cannot decide which I like best: the book or movie. I think they both were equally good. I will definitely be buying Slumdog Millionaire when it comes out on DVD.

Movie: Slumdog Millionaire
Genre: ‎Crime, Drama, Romance
MPAA Rating: R
Directed By: Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan
Writers: Simon Beaufoy (screenplay) & Vikas Swarup (novel)

Monday's Movie hosted by Sher at A Novel Menagerie