screenit.com/movies/2008/slumdog_millionaire.html
Violence Moderate Moderate Heavy Moderate Extreme QUICK TAKE: Drama: As a young man prepares to answer the last question on India's version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" he must answer allegations of him cheating by proving that his life experiences, including growing up in the slums as an orphan, have provided him with the knowledge necessary to answer the questions. PLOT: 18-year-old Jamal Malik (DEV PATEL) is one question away from winning 20 million rupees on India's version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" a far cry from growing up as an orphan in Mumbai's slums. Yet, that very past has cast doubts on his ability to know the answers, resulting in him being interrogated by the Inspector (IRRFAN KHAN) and his brutal goon who want to beat a confession of cheating. Jamal won't budge, however, and as the Inspector plays back questions posed by the show's host, Prem (ANIL KAPOOR), the young man recounts his past life experiences that ultimately lead to his knowledge of the answers. We then flashback to when young Jamal (AYUSH MAHESH KHEDEKAR) and his slightly older brother, Salim (AZHARUDDIN MOHAMMED ISMAIL), end up orphaned during a massacre of Muslims, including the murder of their mother. They eventually befriend another orphan, Latika (RUBINA ALI), and then end up in an orphanage run by Maman (ANKUR VIKAL), a brutal man who employs various kids as panhandlers. The brothers manage to escape, ending up at the Taj Mahal where they grow up into young teenagers, Jamal (TANAY HEMANT CHHEDA) and Salim (ASHUTOSH LOBO GAJIWALA), living off the streets and hustling tourists. Feeling badly that Latika didn't escape with them, Jamal convinces his brother to return to Mumbai to rescue Latika (TANVI GANESH LONKAR), but even that eventually goes amiss. Years later, Jamal works at a call center and wonders whatever happened to Latika (FREIDA PINTO) and Salim (MADHUR MITTAL), discovering that they're now involved in different ways with Javed (MAHESH MANJREKAR), a local, powerful crime boss. As Jamal tries once more to rescue her, the story goes back and forth between the past and present where the 18-year-old tries to prove his innocence to get back to the show and its last question. Those who are fans of the director, anyone in the film, or stories about India and/or Indian characters, just might. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R For some violence, disturbing images and language. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: DEV PATEL plays 18-year-old Jamal, a customer support call center assistant who's become an unlikely contestant and near champion on the game show. He must contend with allegations that he's cheating (including being tortured for a confession of guilt), and tries once again to rescue Latika. FREIDA PINTO plays Latika as a young woman, world weary due to all that she's experienced, including now being abused by Javed. No longer optimistic, she thinks it's too late for her and Jamal. MADHUR MITTAL plays Jamal's older brother, a young man who now works for Javed. He smokes, uses profanity, and once again behaves incongruously toward Jamal. ANIL KAPOOR plays the slick host of the TV show who briefly uses strong profanity and whose motives toward Jamal are dubious. IRRFAN KHAN plays the inspector who interrogates Jamal regarding his alleged cheating, including having him tortured. TANAY HEMANT CHHEDA plays Jamal as a young teenager who hustles tourists at the Taj Mahal, but wants to rescue Latika. TANVI GANESH LONKAR plays that young teenager who's enslaved by Maman as a tempting virgin for others. ASHUTOSH LOBO GAJIWALA plays Salim as a young teenager who uses profanity, kills an abusive man, drinks, and is suggested to have forced sex with Latika despite knowing his brother likes her. At this age, he's already started to go over to the dark side. AYUSH MAHESH KHEDEKAR plays Jamal as a young boy who must contend with being orphaned with his brother and then ending up in an abusive orphanage. RUBINA ALI plays that young girl who befriends him and similarly ends up in the same orphanage. AZHARUDDIN MOHAMMED ISMAIL plays Jamal's young brother who takes charge once their mother is killed, and ends up saving Jamal, but not Latika. ANKUR VIKAL plays a man who runs a so-called orphanage that's really a front for a panhandling operation. He also enslaves young teenager Latika later in the story. MAHESH MANJREKAR plays a powerful crime boss who smokes, uses strong profanity, and abuses Latika.
OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this R-rated drama. Profanity consists of at least 3 "f" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also used. Some sexually related dialogue is present, and off-screen, coerced sex is implied, while a boy's bare butt is briefly see as he rushes to a shower to rinse hot peppers off his crotch. Violence involves shooting deaths, a large-scale ethnic attack resulting in deaths (including a person on fire), torture, and the striking of others, and those scenes and some moments of potential peril might be unsettling and/or suspenseful for some viewers. Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, there's some drinking and smoking, and some tense family material. There's brief alcohol content, some characters smoke, and a song contains drug-related lyrics. Some behavior might be enticing for some kids to imitate, and some scatological material is also present. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, there's some of that from camera flashes. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, there are varying amounts and types of camera movement (including some bouncy handheld) in the film.
ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE A song ("Paper Planes") has the lyrics "I fly like paper, get high like planes," and mentions "weed." Young teen Salim appears to be pouring liquor together and has a beer. Later, and in exchange for rescuing young teen Latika, young teen Salim wants to have sex with her, but Jamal protests, saying Salim has had too much to drink.
BLOOD/GORE After being tortured, some drool runs from Jamal's somewhat bloody mouth. We see young Jamal squatting over a hole in the floor of an elevated outhouse, and a man needs to use that (and farts), but Jamal isn't done yet. When a famous actor suddenly flies in, young Salim locks his brother in the outhouse. Desperate to see the actor, Jamal jumps down into the sewage below him, coming out completed covered in that foul sludge. Young Salim vomits from seeing a boy purposefully blinded. Young teen Jamal has a little blood on his face after being struck by a guard or cop, and then a partially swollen eye. One of Maman's goons has scars on his face from where young Salim previously threw hot liquid on his face (years ago). Latika has an old and somewhat faded black eye (presumably from the crime boss who she now lives with). We see Prem at a urinal and hear related sounds, but don't see the act (while Jamal is in a nearby stall, but we similarly don't see or hear anything related). We see a bad looking scar on Latika's face from where she was previously cut.
DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE The Inspector has his goon beat up and torture Jamal, trying to get a confession of cheating out of him (despite there being no evidence the teen has done so). For the brothers being late to class, their teacher throws a book at them and hits Jamal on the head with that same book. Young Salim locks his younger bother in an outhouse, forcing him to exit by jumping into the pit of sewage below it. Young Salim sells his brother's autograph from a famous actor without his permission. Some cops or soldiers don't do anything when a horde of people attack and kills various Muslims in the slum. Young Jamal shoves another kid for laughing at his singing abilities (or lack thereof), with an adult then throwing Jamal to the ground. Young Salim slaps another kid to make him pull his wei...
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