Slumdog Millionaire Facts

Currently we are watching Slumdog Millionaire in class and this is the first time I'm seeing it. I've always heard great things about it but never took the time to watch it, now that I'm watching it I love it. I looked up some interesting background facts to get a better understanding of how it was made and whats happening.

1. While they were filming the movie, in February 2007, Financier Warner Independent Pictures dropped it Some time after Fox Searchlight Pictures took it under their wing and released it in India and the UK. It was a huge hit and grossed more than $375 million dollars.

2.

Filmmakers came under fire for allegedly not taking care of the child actors on the set of "Slumdog Millionaire." Allegations stated the studio neither paid nor gave the child actors breaks during filming. Fox Searchlight, the distributor of the film, flew the children in from India to celebrate the Oscar ceremony to make up for their supposed mistreatment.

3. "Slumdog" is not an actual word. The word is an invention of the screenwriter and is unrecognizable to most Indians. Despite this fact, most of the Indian media and Indians in general are happy with the movie's success and the exposure it brought to the country.

4.At the 81st Academy Awards held in 2009, the film won eight out of its 10 nominations, including "Best Picture," "Best Director," and "Best Cinematography." "Slumdog Millionaire" is the eighth film in movie history to win eight Academy Awards.

5. One of the things I was most interested in when I found it was that Director Danny Boyle was concerned that Hollywood financiers would refuse to back a film with too much Hindi in it. When we began the film it was hard to follow what they were saying between reading the subtitles and watching the chaos in the film. When the time came for him to present the film to Hollywood backers, Boyle lied and said most of the movie's dialogue was English to ensure support for the film. The Indian children in the film coudn't speak English well enough, so all of their scenes are in Hindi. As a result, about 20-30% of the film is not in English.