Slumdog Millionaire · reception & legacy

2008 · Danny Boyle

How Slumdog Millionaire has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A word-of-mouth sleeper that snowballed into 8 Oscars including Best Picture — then the backlash hit almost immediately, with 'poverty porn' accusations and its Oscar sweep now regularly cited in 'weakest Best Picture winners' debates.

What's debated

Film fans still argue over whether it's a vibrant crowd-pleaser or a Western outsider's glossy tourist-eye view of Mumbai poverty — the 'poverty porn' debate has never gone away.

Its footprint

A.R. Rahman's 'Jai Ho' became a global phenomenon (and a Pussycat Dolls hit), the closing train-platform dance number is endlessly referenced and parodied, and 'It is written' entered the pop lexicon.

Where it stands

A curious case of a canon-decliner: one of the most awarded films of its decade that cinephiles now rarely champion, remembered more as an Oscar-season artifact than a favourite.

★ Did you know? The film nearly went straight to DVD when Warner Independent Pictures folded in 2008 — Fox Searchlight stepped in to co-distribute, and months later it won Best Picture. And Dev Patel was cast after Danny Boyle's daughter pointed him out from the teen series Skins.

Named by the director

Influences Danny Boyle has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

Deewaar (1975) — Boyle called it 'absolutely key' to Indian cinema and drew on its two-brothers-on-opposite-paths melodrama.
Satya (1998) — Boyle cited Ram Gopal Varma's Mumbai underworld film as an influence on his portrait of the city.
Company (2002) — Another Varma gangster picture Boyle named for its slick, energetic depiction of the Mumbai underworld.
Black Friday (2004) — Boyle credited Anurag Kashyap's film — particularly its chase through a slum — as inspiration for Slumdog's opening Dharavi chase.