Slumdog Millionaire hits the jackpot

Little surprise, the actor, who essays the role of a television show host, is eagerly awaiting the release of the film, touted to go to the Oscars too, in India. Unfortunately, Indian audiences will have to wait till January 23, 2009.

Adapted from Vikram Swarup's novel, Q&A, Slumdog Millionaire was released in just 10 theatres in North America including in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC, Chicago and Toronto on November 12.Still, it has so far grossed a total of $418,131, turning into one of the biggest hits of 2008.

What's more, the film will now expand into 10 more cities by this weekend and will eventually play in 300 theatres across North America. The release in the UK market will also take place early on January 9.

Not bad at all, especially for a film which was made for $13 million and released after a lot of initial hiccups, especially when the original backer, Warner Independent Pictures, shut down this year. Warner Brothers later contracted with Fox Searchlight to distribute and market the movie in North America.

The film, which essentially revolves around a slum boy from Mumbai who wins prize money of a million dollars at a game show, has been doing the rounds of many prestigious film festivals, including the London Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival where it won the People's Choice award.

Directed by Danny Boyle, who has made Sunshine, Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, the film's shooting was anything but easy, says co-director Loveleen Tandan. The film was required to be shot in the slums and streets of Mumbai, something which was impossible to achieve especially as onlookers kept stumbling into the camera frames.

With Dev Patel in the lead as an 18-year-old slum kid who is on the brink of winning big prize money at a game show, the film also stars Indian actors Irrfan Khan and Anil Kapoor. It has music by A R Rahman, with lyrics by Gulzar and tracks sung by playback singer Sukhwinder. Interestingly, to lend authenticity to the script, Slumdog Millionaire has large chunks of scenes that are spoken in Hindi by different characters.

However, the one tiny criticism that has comes its way has been that Patel, despite giving a fabulous performance, does have an accent which doesn't with fit with his "slum" role. Still, the film continues to do well in different sections of North America. Let's see if Indian viewers too like it.

Danny Boyle's acclaimed hit "Slumdog Millionaire" has reached $3.8 million at the North American box office, surpassing the $3.4 million of the Hrithik Roshan-Aishwarya Rai epic Jodhaa Akbar to become the highest grossing Indian movie of 2008.

The film set and shot in Mumbai has done this after only three weeks in theatres while playing in only 49 locations, Fox Searchlight said Friday. Released in February, Jodhaa Akbar played much wider in 125 theaters and earned its total gross over nine weeks.

"Slumdog Millionaire" will continue to open in more theatres nationwide throughout December and will see its box office gross continue to climb. Though financed in the UK, the film's setting, story, and characters are all Indian.

"Slumdog Millionaire" recounts the travails of an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai who goes on to win a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" game show and the process is nabbed by the police on suspicion of cheating.

"Slumdog Millionaire" added to its impressive list of industry accolades this week winning three British Independent Film Awards for Best Film, Best Director, and the Most Promising Newcomer prize for 18-year-old actor Dev Patel.

The song 'Paper Planes' by British Sri Lankan singer MIA, which is featured on the "Slumdog Millionaire" soundtrack earned a prestigious Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year Dec 3.

And Thursday the film was named Best Picture of the Year by the National Board of Review which also honoured it in two other categories - Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actor for Patel and Best Adapted Screenplay (tie) for Simon Beaufoy.

http://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/2008/dec/061208-Slumdog-beats-Jodhaa-Akbar-in-US-grossing-highest-revenue.htm