Slumdog Millionaire Trivia Quiz

Answer: 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.

Answer: 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.

Answer: 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.

Answer: 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.

Answer: 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".

Answer: 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.

Answer: 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.

Answer: 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.

Answer: 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.

Answer: 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.