Background information

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

The film Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle narrates the life of Jamal Malik, an 18-year-old Muslim from India who is taking part in the TV gameshow Kaun Banega Crorepati which is the Hindi version of the international franchise Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. An insight into the gameshow and its rules would lead to a better understanding of the film.

The gameshow Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? originally started in the UK, but later on became popular all over the world and variants of it appeared in many countries. Although there are variations from country to country, the overall format is the same. A group of contestants is selected by phone, and then they have to undergo a further selection on live television and put several answers in order (for example, chronologically) in a very short amount of time. The contestant who is the fastest will get to sit in “the chair” and take part in the main section of the show. Although this selection is not shown in the film, Jamal obviously passed it successfully, as he is now in the chair.

The contestant is then asked a series of questions with multiple-choice answers. Those taking part have to choose the correct variant in order to ...