|
|
|
Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 40 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
Special Topics
|
 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Slumdog Millionaire
| What was the phrase that guided Jamal to correctly answer the last question, and was superimposed over the screen at the movie's end? | Slumdog Millionaire
|
It is written.. After speaking with Latika on the phone Jamal appeared to be calm about answering the question, although he did not know the answer. His philosophy of "it is written" indicated to him that he was destined to win and he correctly guessed the last answer. Not knowing how to find each other after the show, he and Latika eventually meet at the train station, a place that had figured in their lives previously.
He was killed by Javed's henchmen, while sitting in a bathtub full of money.. After living a life of doing whatever it took to get ahead, Salim performed the ultimate sacrifice by helping his brother's true love (Latika) escape from their crime lord boss, knowing he would be killed for doing so. After she left in his car, Salim locked himself in the bathroom, lined the tub with all the money earned in a life of crime and sat back seemingly at peace as Javed and his crew burst through the door with guns blazing.
Latika. Salim had given Latika his cell phone and car allowing her to escape from the safe house she had been hiding at, from crime lord Javed. Salim's was the only phone number Jamal knew. Latika answered but she didn't know the answer to the question. Jamal simply smiled, happy in the knowledge that Latika was safely away from Javed, and guessed the answer to the 20 million rupee question.
Who was the third Musketeer?. As children Jamal and Salim were in school only long enough to read part of "The Three Musketeers" and thus they knew of Athos and Porthos. When they befriended Latika she became the un-named "third Musketeer". Although he didn't know the name and his last lifeline on the gameshow offered no help, Jamal correctly guessed the third Musketeer was Aramis.
| As children, Jamal and Salim pretended to be tour guides at which famous site? | Slumdog Millionaire
|
The Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal was also the place where the brothers stole shoes from visitors who were not allowed to wear them inside, as well as other items, which they then sold in outdoor bazaars. The Luxor Temple, Khyber Pass and Katmandu are in Egypt, Pakistan and Nepal, respectively.
He was suspected of cheating.. The movie used flashbacks to reveal how Jamal's tumultuous life experiences had provided him the knowledge to correctly answer most of the questions. The police tortured him in hopes of extracting the confession of how he cheated, but after hearing the path his life had taken they were forced to admit his story was "bizarrely plausible".
His blind childhood friend told him, after Jamal described the man on the bill.. Jamal's friend was purposely blinded by the leader of a Mumbai child crime ring, who rounded up orphans and trained them to beg on the streets. Blind children were more sympathetic and collected more money from begging than others. Jamal narrowly excaped this fate himself when his brother, Salim, became aware of what was about to happen and the brothers ran away from the children's camp.
Jamal and Salim began a life of scrambling for survival any way they could, including stealing shoes left outside a famous Indian historical site. They sold the shoes in open air bazaars, along with other items taken from tourists. In this way, Jamal came to have a $100 bill. He began seeking out his blinded friend amongst the beggars on the street, eventually finding him. When he did, he offered the bill which the blind boy held to his nose to smell. He recognized it as American money and asked Jamal to describe the picture of the man on the money. After Jamal did so, the boy said "Ah, Benjamin Franklin." Many years later, Jamal recalled this incident as he explained how he had the answer to something that no "slumdog from the streets" could possibly know.
She was killed in a Hindu-Muslim riot.. The boys' mother died while washing clothes in the river, beaten by a rioter. Still very young, the brothers took to living on a garbage heap. Their father was never mentioned.
Dev Patel. "Slumdog Millionaire" was Dev Patel's first film. Born in London in 1990, he appeared on the British television show "Skins" in the role of Anwar Kharral. Patel won the Best Actor prize at the British Independent Film Awards for his role in "Slumdog". In an interview, Patel told of how the film's director, Danny Boyle, complained to his young daughter that he couldn't find the right actor for Jamal. She was watching "Skins" at the time and pointed to Patel on the television screen.
Imran Khan was a famous Pakistani cricketer turned politician. Rajiv Gandhi succeeded his mother, Indira Gandhi, as the Prime Minister of India, following her assasination in 1984. He was also murdered, in 1991. Christiane Amanpour was hired by CNN shortly after her 1983 graduation from the University of Rhode Island and was later named that network's chief international correspondent.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The movie "Slumdog Millionaire" is about how an uneducated orphan from the slums of Mumbai (called 'slumdogs') was able to get all the way to the final question on the Indian version of the popular American game show. The format was the same as the original show with the exception that earnings were paid in rupees rather than dollars, with 20 million rupees the top prize.
Lead character Jamal, now a teen-ager, found a job as a "chai-wallah" (someone who serves tea) at an Indian call center. "Millionaire" was very popular in all of India and work at the call center practically shut down when it was on the air. Jamal learned, from one of the "tech guys", the best way to utilize the call center's technology, to get his phone call through to the show to become a contestant.
The "Millionaire" host was portrayed by well known Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor.
| "Slumdog Millionaire" has quite a few cliches which are typical of Bollywood movies, including siblings separating and then reuniting, convenient coincidences, the triumph of the underdog, a happy ending and a song and dance routine before the credits roll. Who composed the soundtrack for the film? | Who Wants to be a "Slumdog Millionaire"?
|
A. R. Rahman. Rahman won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for this film becoming the first Indian to win a Golden Globe. He also earned three Oscar nominations including one for Best Original Score. Rahman is a well known Indian composer and has a huge and impressive body of work. Most fans will agree that this is not his best work but the awards and recognition are rightly due to him.
"Slumdog Millionaire" has evoked a mixed response in India with equal number of people for and against it. Most of the Indian celebrities who have spoken out against it state that it reinforces the West's stereotypical view of India as a third world country. Personally, I enjoyed the movie, though I'm not convinced that all the hype surrounding it was justified. While the poverty shown in the movie is real, there's a lot more to Mumbai than just that. Maybe you should come visit and see for yourself.
| Jamal called Salim using the 'Phone a Friend' lifeline for the final question. Instead of Salim, Latika answered the phone and assured him she was safe. Where did Jamal find Latika at the end of the movie? | Who Wants to be a "Slumdog Millionaire"?
|
The railway station. Jamal had promised Latika that he would wait for her at VT station everyday at 5 pm. She had tried to meet him there earlier but was caught by Salim and his gang and taken away.
Victoria Terminus or VT station was renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in 1996. However, Dev Patel, who played the older Jamal, was unable to pronounce the name and hence the old name is used in the movie. Most people in Mumbai still refer to the station as VT though CST is also catching on now.
No. Jamal ran into Prem in the restroom during the commercial break. He confessed to Prem that he didn't know the answer. Prem urged him to give it a shot since he had been doing so well. When Prem left the place, Jamal realized that he had inscribed 'B' on the mirror. When Jamal returned to the hot seat, Prem again prompted him. Jamal instead chose to use the 50-50 lifeline. Of the remaining options, Jamal chose option D instead of B which turned out to be the correct answer. Prem had tried to make Jamal lose and when he didn't take the bait, he had him arrested on charges of cheating.
The Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" was called "Kaun Banega Crorepati?" and started with a prize money of Rs. 1 crore. In the subsequent seasons, it was increased to Rs. 2 crores. (1 crore = 10 million)
| Unable to forget his first love, Latika, Jamal convinced Salim to return to Mumbai in an attempt to find her. One of their old friends told Jamal that Latika now lived in the 'cages' - the red light area. By what name was she known there? | Who Wants to be a "Slumdog Millionaire"?
|
Cherry. Latika had grown into a beautiful young girl. She was also given dancing lessons by Maman. He had hoped to sell her to the highest bidder at the right time. She had been renamed Cherry for her life as a prostitute. Salim shot Maman and rescued Latika from the brothel. However, he then wanted Latika for himself even though he knew how much Jamal cared about her. This led to the brothers separating, though later Salim claimed to have left messages for Jamal.
| After escaping from Maman, Salim and Jamal eked a livelihood by selling different things including fruits on long distance trains. On one such journey they got caught trying to steal food and were thrown off the train. Which historical monument did they see and mistake for a 5-star hotel? | Who Wants to be a "Slumdog Millionaire"?
|
Taj Mahal, Agra. Even though at first they had no idea what the Taj Mahal was, Jamal and Salim were quick learners and soon became tourist guides. They even stole the footwear left outside before entering the mausoleum and took photographs as alternate means of earning money.
This is another hard to believe sequence in the movie. The Taj Mahal is an extremely popular and well known monument in India. Also, replicas of the Taj are commonly sold by hawkers on long distance trains passing through Agra. Since this was Jamal and Salim's line of work, prior to getting thrown off the train, it is surprising that they didn't identify it.
| While living as scavengers, Jamal, Salim and Latika were approached by Maman and his men who seemed to be from a charitable foundation. What were the children then made to do? | Who Wants to be a "Slumdog Millionaire"?
|
Work as beggars. Salim was put in charge of the beggar children while Jamal was trained in singing. The men planned to blind Jamal once he had learned to sing well, as that would make him earn more alms. Salim realized this and managed to escape with Jamal. He purposely left Latika behind as he hadn't approved of her being with them from the beginning.
All the sequences involving the earliest part of Jamal's life were shot in Hindi at the suggestion of Loveleen Tandon, the casting and co-director of the film. This stemmed from her inability to find young actors who could realistically portray slum children and speak fluent English. The three children cast as the young Jamal, Salim and Latika are all from the slums of Mumbai and continue to live there even now. The producers of the film have financed their education post the filming.
| When arrested on suspicion of cheating, Jamal tried to explain to the cops how he knew the answers to the questions on the show, based on incidents in his life. One of the flashbacks showed Jamal and his elder brother, Salim, attending school. What classic novel was being taught in the classroom? | Who Wants to be a "Slumdog Millionaire"?
|
"The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas. Jamal and Salim were late for school and thus only learnt the names of two of the musketeers, Athos and Porthos. They used these names as codes for each other. Soon after this, their mother was killed by a mob during the riots, forcing the two kids to start looking after themselves working as scavengers.
The uniforms worn by the school kids indicate that they were studying in a Government (municipality) school. The medium of instruction in these schools is generally Hindi or any other regional language. For an Indian audience, it's strange to see "The Three Musketeers" taught to such young students in a Government school.
| Prem Kumar, the host of the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?", was amused to discover that Jamal Malik was a chaiwala (tea seller) who managed to make it to the hot seat. Where did Jamal work as a chaiwala? | Who Wants to be a "Slumdog Millionaire"?
|
A call centre. Jamal knew the answers to one of the questions on the show because of his job at the call centre. Since the call centre employees had to pretend they were British to the callers, they were taught a little bit about UK to help them. One of the classes also included learning about UK celebrity gossip. Jamal picked up some of this while working there.
Though the word 'slumdog' has been used in the movie to describe people like Jamal, who live in the slums of Mumbai, I have never heard it or any vernacular variation of it used in Mumbai. Beaufoy coined it by combining the words 'slum dweller' and 'underdog'.
| While the police inspector was questioning Jamal's knowledge, he asked Jamal whose picture was on the Indian 1000-rupee note, and then showed him when Jamal claimed not to know. Whose picture was it? | The Quiz Within "Slumdog Millionaire"
|
Mohandas Gandhi. It is not believable that Jamal would not know this answer, since an identical picture of Mohandas K. "Mahatma" Gandhi, the creator of "passive resistance" and the architect of Indian independence in 1948, appears on all Indian paper currency. Instead, the bills are differentiated by size, by color and by the picture on the reverse side. In fact, the current series of Indian currency, which has been in use since 1996, is generally known as the "Mahatma Gandhi series."
Although you need to answer 15 questions correctly to win on "Kaun Banega Crorepati", the same number needed to win on both the U.S. and U.K. versions of "Millionaire", Jamal was only shown answering nine questions in the movie -- the nine questions that make up the rest of this quiz. Viewers have no idea what happened to the other six questions, which are not discussed, but it hardly seems possible that someone who didn't know Gandhi's picture was on all Indian paper currency could have answered any other questions without suspicion, let alone six of them.
Aramis. Isn't this too easy of a question for one that is worth 20 million (2 crore) rupees? Aramis was the third musketeer; D'Artagnan became the fourth musketeer; Cardinal Richelieu was the musketeers' archenemy (although still trusted by the king); and Planchet was D'Artagnan's trusty servant.
In the movie, Jamal and Salim referred to themselves as Athos and Porthos, but they never learned the name of the third musketeer, although Jamal thought of Latika as the third. This added to the irony when Latika answered the phone after Jamal used his "phone-a-friend" lifeline to call his brother before giving this answer. Finally, Jamal just guessed when she also didn't know, stating that maybe "it is written" that he would win. And so it was.
Jack Hobbs. As noted in the movie, Hobbs (from England) scored 197 first-class centuries during his career from 1905-1934, a record that is unlikely to ever be broken. (Some sources credit him with 199, but Hobbs himself said that the two in dispute should not be counted.) In the movie, Jamal answered Hobbs after using his 50:50 lifeline, ignoring the incorrect answer Ricky Ponting, a current star for Australia, that he had been fed by the host. As a result, the host had Jamal arrested by the police on suspicion of cheating, although the police finally released him after hearing his stories about the events of his life that led him to know the answers.
Jimmy Bridges was the bowler when Hobbs broke the previous first-class centuries record. Mumbai's Sachin Tendulkar holds the records for most test centuries and most one-day international centuries, but he is not one of the 25 batters with 100 or more first-class centuries.
London. John le Carre fans are familiar with London's Cambridge Circus, because it is the location of the headquarters of British intelligence (known as "the Circus") in his books.
In the movie, Jamal (now a "chai wallah" -- a maker of tea) learned London landmarks from pretending to be in England during his work in the call center (as an "assistant phone basher", as the host put it at first, or, more accurately, as a fill-in during breaks) ... and also learned when to call if he wanted to get on "Millionaire" as a contestant.
Samuel Colt. The question in the movie was "Who invented the revolver?", but this phrasing is more accurate. Colt apparently never claimed to have invented the revolver, although he was the one who modified it in a way that made it successful. In 1818, 17 years prior to Colt's English patent for the revolver (1835), Boston's Elisha Collier patented a flintlock revolver in England, which was primarily used by the British army. Colt, who was from nearby Hartford, Connecticut, said that the innovations in his design were inspired by Collier's basic idea -- which is part of the reason that he patented his design in England a year before patenting it the U.S. Colt was also inspired by Eli Whitney (inventor of the cotton gin and one of the innovators of mass production), who in 1798 started a Massachusetts factory focused on building rifles with interchangeable parts for the U.S. Army. Colt's revolver had continuous-fire capability and interchangeable parts, which made it both useful and affordable ... and made him extremely wealthy, although it took the revolver a while to catch on.
In the movie, Jamal's older brother Salim called himself "the man with the Colt .45" when he demanded that Jamal surrender Latika to him, after he killed Maman and then was hired by the gangster Javed.
Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was put on the $100 Federal Reserve Note when it was first issued in 1914 and has been there ever since. Between 1861 (when the U.S. first issued paper money) and 1914, the U.S. government had issued $100 notes featuring, at different times, Mexican War hero Gen. Winfield Scott, Civil War hero Adm. David Farragut, U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton, and U.S. presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and James Monroe. Since 1969, the $100 has been the largest U.S. bill in circulation, leading to the slang of $100 bills being known as "Benjamins."
In the movie, Jamal received a $100 bill as a tip from an American tourist couple while at the Taj Mahal (where he and Salim were unlicensed tourguides) and used it to locate Latika back in Mumbai.
Surdas. The answer given in the movie was Surdas, the famous Indian blind poet and singer of the 16th century, which tied in well to this section of the movie, in which the singing beggars were blinded by the crime boss Maman to increase their earning potential (although Salim saved Jamal from that fate). However, the song is from the 1957 Bollywood movie "Narsi Bhagat", based on the life and work of the 15th century poet Narsinh Mehta. Gopal Singh Nepali was given the writer's credit for the lyrics, so he is the correct answer to the question, and Narsinh Mehta (whose poems inspired the song) also may be, but Surdas is not -- except in this quiz about "Slumdog Millionaire".
A bow and arrow. Lord Rama is based on a real king, although he has been deified as one of the avatars (incarnations) of the god Vishnu. Vishnu is depicted with blue skin, but, unlike the presentation in the movie, Lord Rama is not depicted as blue because he is Vishnu in human form (a concept Christians should understand). Lord Rama is always shown with a bow, although it can also be in in his left hand or slung over his shoulder, and often shown with an arrow.
Some Hindus have complained about the depiction of the 1993 Mumbai Hindu-Muslim riots (the so-called "Bombay Riots") in the movie, during which Salim and Jamal's mother was murdered by the Hindu mob and the boys encountered someone dressed as Lord Rama. However, the riots were real, as were the thousands of ethnic killings associated with them.
The truth alone triumphs. This motto is expressed in Hindi as "satyameva jayate." In the movie, Jamal had to use his first lifeline, the "ask the audience" lifeline, here, although the police inspector noted that his 5-year-old daughter would have known that answer.
Amitabh Bachchan. Bachchan became the "angry young man" of Bollywood cinema with his performance there as an honest police inspector. Not mentioned in this movie is that Bachchan was also the original host of "Kaun Banega Crorepati" -- the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" used in the movie. Anil Kapoor, who played the host in the movie, appeared as a celebrity contestant on the actual show with Bachchan in 2001. However, Bachchan was not asked to play the movie's host, because the host's villainy (deliberately giving Jamal a wrong answer to get him to lose) was too variant from Bachchan's Bollywood hero image.
Young Jamal's determination to get Bachchan's autograph despite being trapped in a squat toilet created one of the most memorable images in the movie. Salim then selling the autograph for "a good price" while Jamal was being cleaned off by his mother also established their poverty.
| A musical question to end with: Though the background score of the film is mostly fast-paced, a slow, soft and melodious tune is distinctly played in the background, whenever Latika is on-screen or being talked about. It is composed by the multiple Academy Awards winner, composer A.R. Rahman. The question is, what is the name of this musical piece in the "Slumdog Millionaire" soundtrack? | "Slumdog Millionaire": The Story of Latika
|
Latika's Theme. The track "Latika's Theme" in the "Slumdog Millionaire" soundtrack has been composed by A.R. Rahman, the multiple Oscar winner composer from India and performed by Suzanne D'Mello, an Indian vocalist who has performed songs in several Hindi and Tamil film-songs. The length of "Latika's Theme" is three minutes and nine seconds.
| It's the last scene of the film. Jamal walks upto Latika, standing on an empty railway platform, and embraces her. Jamal says to her - "This is our destiny". What Latika says in return is the last spoken sentence by any character of the film before the closing credits. What does she say finally? | "Slumdog Millionaire": The Story of Latika
|
"Kiss me". Jamal says to Latika that he knew she would be watching the game-show. Latika says that she thought they could "meet only in death". Then Jamal embraces her and says that it is their destiny which has helped them meet and part only to meet over and over again. Latika then urges Jamal to kiss her. The frame freezes and the end credits roll on up the screen with Jamal and Latika shown dancing on the platform with a bunch of extras to the tunes of "Jai Ho", the Oscar-winning number composed in a typical "Bollywood"-ish style by A.R. Rahman.
| After winning the game-show, Jamal is shown sitting alone at the railway station around midnight when he suddenly notices Latika standing on another platform at the station and looking for him. Jamal goes near Latika and confesses his love for her. In this scene, Latika wears a scarf around her head and face. What is the colour of the scarf that Latika wears? | "Slumdog Millionaire": The Story of Latika
|
Yellow. While running away from Javed's residence, Latika covers her head and face with a yellow embroidered scarf (better known as "Odhni" in India). The Odhnis are traditional Indian accesories to be worn with the Salwar, a fashionable Indian apparel for the ladies. We can presume that Latika must have worn a scarf at night to hide her identity from Javed's men, and also to hide the scar on her face which is created by Javed's henchmen when she tries to escape after being caught by them at the railway station.
|
Play Now! 