Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire, by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup, follows the rags-to-riches story of an Indian teenager who becomes a millionaire by winning a version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” Swarup published the novel in 2005 with the title Q&A, to reflect the trivia show that reverses the poor boy’s fortune, but the story is far more recognizable by the title of the adapted movie Slumdog Millionaire (2008), which was a surprise blockbuster and major winner at the Oscars. Since 2008, Q&A is often sold as Slumdog Millionaire, though the novel has several major plot and character differences from the movie. The novel's themes include compassion, perseverance, courage against impossible odds, and the true definition of “smart.”

Set in Mumbai, the novel follows Ram Mohammad Thomas, who is an orphan; his name represents the three religions his parents may have practiced: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. The novel opens as Ram is being arrested and taken to the local police precinct. Hours before, he had won India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, called Who Will Win a Billion? (abbreviated as W3B). Allowing for currency adjustments, he actually won one billion rupees. The producers don’t have the money to pay Ram, so they bribe the Indian police to arrest Ram for cheating. After his arrest, he is interrogated. The officers ask him a series of general questions that he cannot answer correctly. They are convinced that he cheated on the game show, and they are determined to find out how. But then, a female lawyer, Smita Shah (a childhood friend of Ram), appears to defend him. She informs the police that what they’re doing is illegal, and demands to speak with her client in private. They let Ram go.

Having grown up in one of the world’s worse slums, Ram is skeptical of peoples’ motivations and cannot understand the worldview of optimists. He doesn’t understand why Smita wants to help him; she says she wants to help because when she saw his arrest in the paper, she knew the police had probably done it illegally. She wants justice for him, but she entreats him to tell her the truth of how he – an uneducated hood kid who rarely follows the news—was able to win such a difficult trivia show. Ram tells Smita that he just got lucky: he was only asked questions that he knew the answers to.



The rest of the novel is divided into 12 chapters. In each chapter, Ram tells a story from his life that explains how he knew the answer to all 12 questions that were asked on the trivia show. Each chapter also ends by showing how Ram’s “street smarts” prepared him to compete on Who Will Win a Billion? Ram was abandoned as a baby, and found in a donation box at a church in Delhi. Because of his dark skin, no parents were eager to adopt him. Ram spends his early life in the church, and grows close to Father Timothy, who becomes a mentor to him and teaches him the answer to the first question. As a young boy, Ram lives with his good friend and cousin, Salim, in an abandoned movie theater. One day, a family whose father recently lost his job, moves in. Ram overhears, and eventually sees, the father routinely beat and molest his daughter. It’s understood that this girl is none other than Smita. The father beats her so badly that she’s sent to the hospital. Ram, who has bonded with her and wishes to protect her like his own sister, vows to look after her cat, but the father soon kills Smita’s pet. At the end of the chapter, Ram pushes the father down the stairs, inadvertently killing him.

After the death of Father Timothy, Ram and Salim are forced to live in a foster home operated by a man named Sethji. It’s soon revealed that Sethji makes a living by making children perform sexual services for money. The two boys escape. Ram's working life includes an encounter with an eccentric Australian, Colonel Taylor, and a period as a bartender, where he hears a confession from a weeping man who contributed to his own brother’s massive heart attack. Both of these stories give him information that allows him to advawnce in Who Will Win a Billion. Ram saves enough money to travel to Mumbai to see his best friend, Salim. But word gets around that he’s carrying 50,000 rupees, and a group of robbers attack them. He defends himself, and kills one of his attackers in the process, but all of his money is stolen.

Ram meets a beautiful young woman, Nita. Though she is forced to work as a prostitute, he quickly falls in love with her. She asks him not to call her beautiful, as her beauty is the reason her family selected her to be a sex worker in the first place. It’s soon revealed that Prem Kumar, the host of Who Will Win a Billion, has abused Nita. In fact, Ram wanted to be a contestant on the show in the first place to extract revenge on Kumar. As a young man, Ram worked for a formerly popular Bollywood star, Neelima Kumari. She is kind to Ram, though her husband severely mistreats her. She ends up committing suicide to preserve her youthful appearance. For sometime, he also works as a tour guide at the Taj Mahal. It’s one of his better jobs, and Ram has a great time getting creative with certain stories related to the history of the Taj Mahal. When he goes on the game show, he is a waiter. The novel concludes with Ram as a free and wealthy man. He marries Nita, and lives happily.



For our full study guide on Q and A/Slumdog Millionaire, click here.