Shover 1

Graham Shover
Ms. Caruso
ENGL 1101
26 September 2011
Slumdog Millionaire Film: The Love Story
What is text? Text is anything in various Iorms that writing exists. Each text has a
purpose behind it whether it be Irom a book or a simple paper, like mine. Text can be derived
Irom anything and everything, Ior example, a tree. One can derive text Irom a tree by looking at
the many ways in which is sustains itselI to survive, one oI those ways being photosynthesis. As
you can see, one can derive text Irom basically anything visually. As a whole, all oI this Iits
within one genre. The tree`s genre, one might say, is the environment or the world. Through this
representation I derive the text, genre and purpose Ior this paper in my discussion.
The text I have chosen, Slumdog Millionaire, is a Ioreign Iilm set in India, in the slums oI
Mumbai. Mumbai`s slums are one oI the world`s six biggest slums. The purpose behind this text
demonstrates a love story based oII what the character does, but also how it relates to the movie
as a whole. In a way, the purpose is the main character, Jamal Malik`s, plight to Iind his love that
leads him on adventures throughout his whole liIe that in the end helps him win the game show,
Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. More importantly, it is Iinding his love, Latika`s, attention. This
text is conveying how powerIul love actually is, and the extent one is willing to go Ior a loved
one. The sole reason Jamal went onto the game show was Ior Latika. He went onto the game
show, not Ior money, but because he knew she would be watching in the home oI Javid-Khan`s ,
the head gangster oI Mumbai. Time and time again Jamal devised ways he could be reunited
Comment |CS1]: Changed belng Lo be Lo creaLe
beLLer flow
Comment |CS2]: ueleLed comma beLween LexL
and from because Lhe senLence flowed beLLer
wlLhouL lL
Comment |CS3]: l deleLed ls where whlch came
afLer represenLaLlon because lL added useless words
and more power and meanlng
Comment |CS4]: CmlLLed based ln Lhe naLlon
of" Lo seL ln Loo wordy
Comment |CSS]: Changed characLer's Lo
characLer Lo show lLs !amal's purpose
Comment |CS6]: Changed loves Lo loves Lo
show LhaL hes Lrylng Lo flnd hls love LaLlka's
Comment |CS7]: Changed waLchlng ln !avld"
Lo waLchlng ln Lhe home of !avld Lo creaLe beLLer
flow and show possesslon much clearer
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with his lost love, each time he Iailed until Iinally going onto the game show getting all oI
India`s attention, Latika was able to escape and be reunited with Jamal Iorever.
As Slumdog Millionaire begins, Jamal Malik walks into the game show, Who Wants to be
a Millionaire?, Ior the Iinal twenty million rube question. The movie Ilashes back to Jamal being
tortured Ior, 'cheating they were trying to break him into admitting his lie. They had him tied
up hanging Irom the ceiling by his hands, and gets electrocuted. The cop uses too high oI a
voltage and knocks Jamal out, the head cop gets angry with the lower cop who electrocuted
Jamal Ior using too high oI a voltage and in his anger the lower cop asks, 'What iI he knew the
answers? (Boyle) The story picks up here when the cop, Jamal and the lesser cop go through the
recorded video questions oI the whole game show the day beIore Jamal is to go in Ior the Iinal
question to win twenty million rubes. The cop asks him question by question and the Iilm takes
oII, going through the liIe oI Jamal showing what he was doing and the events he went through
in order show how he knew the answers to all the questions.
Jamal was answering one oI the questions, thereIore a Ilashback to a point in his liIe
occurred, when he was eight years old and an attack on the slums oI Mumbai occurred by non-
Muslims and while Jamal and his older brother, Salim, were sprinting through the slums oI
Mumbai Irom the attackers they come across a girl in a corner oI an alley way, hiding. They tell
her to come and Iollow them, although Jamal does not know he just Iound the girl oI his dreams
that will mean everything to him, Latika. AIter being asked another question and Jamal was
asked to explain how he knew the answer, he was taken captive in an 'orphanage he did not
know he was captive oI. While there he became closer and closer to Latika. Although he did not
know the 'orphanage he was in was Iull oI impaired kids impaired by their head master,
Maman who would have the kids sing and when he deemed them ready would impair them by
Comment |CS8]: Changed Lo Lo Loo grammar
error
Comment |CS3]: Changed Lo Lo Loo grammar
error

Comment |CS10]: Changed lL from Lhey cop Lo
Lhe cop !amal" sounds correcL and flows beLLer
Comment |CS11]: Changed rubles Lo rubes
mlsspelllng of currency
Comment |CS12]: Changed Lhe wordlng of Lhls
senLence Lo make lL beLLer flow and become more
undersLandable Change lL from Lo a Llme when he
was elghL" Lo when he was elghL" beLLer flow
less wordy
Shover 3

taking out an eye or mutilating them in some way. That way when they went onto the streets to
beg, people would be more inclined to give the kids money. So Jamal, who has now grown very
close to Latika, was talking to her about their plan to live together Iorever, Jamal was saying to
her, 'All I need to do is get Maman to like my singing and bam! I am in the big money and they
will live together no longer having to beg in a big house on harbour road, in the moonlight you
and I. (Boyle) This is the liIelong plan Ior Latika and Jamal where they, in their own way,
announce they love each other at the age oI about eight, and this is where Jamal derives his
plight Ior Latika when they become separated. Right aIter Jamal and Latika make their liIelong
plan, it comes time Ior Jamal to 'sing. When Jamal begins to sing Maman becomes satisIied,
and begins to have Salim put him to sleep so he can mutilate him, but as Maman goes to have
Salim do it, Salim douses Maman and all together, Jamal, Salim, and Latika, who was
eavesdropping, Ior she wanted to know how Jamal was doing, run. They run to the trains and
there they run and get onto an already in motion train all but Latika, who was trying to catch up
but in the end was too slow and this is where Jamal was ripped apart Irom her and his plight
begins to reunite himselI with his other halI.
Jamal now goes on with his liIe, he and Salim decide to travel to the city oI Mumbai and
that is where Jamal hopes to Iind Latika and reunite himselI with her. Once inside the city Jamal
begins his search Ior her until he gets lucky and Iinds someone who knows her and he goes and
Iinds her and once again they are reunited, due to Jamal's passionate love and perseverance; but
since they had to steal her Irom their old master Maman they had to run to some abandoned
apartments and picked a room and stayed in it Ior the night. During the night Salim, who was in
a drunken rage, goes to rape Latika, Jamal Iights back but Salim pulls a gun on him and Iorces
him to leave and Jamal does not see Latika or Salim again Ior the longest time. Until, while
Comment |CS13]: Comblned Lhe Lwo senLences
and omlLLed a loL of wordy LexL LllmlnaLed Lhe
fragmenL
Comment |CS14]: Moved comma from so Lo aL
Lhe end of !amal Sounds clear
Comment |CS1S]: Changed elghLlsh Lo elghL
lncreases power and shows l know Lhe lnformaLlon
Comment |CS16]: Changed Lhls senLence a loL
Lo lncrease clarlLy
Comment |CS17]: Changed never sees Lo !amal
does noL see because lL makes Lhe senLence flow
much nlcer
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Jamal was working, ever thinking oI Latika and Salim, Iinds Salim`s number in the mass
phonebook the communication company had on the computer. From this Jamal meets back up
with Salim who is now in work Ior Javis-Khan, the head gangster. Salim gives Jamal the address
to his house and key and Jamal goes there to live with him. Then one day as Salim goes to work,
Jamal Iollows him to Javis-Khan`s house where he enters it disguised as a washer repairman.
While in the house, he Iinds Latika and embraces her, and in the background sees she is
watching the show everyone at his work watches, the game show, Who Wants to be a
Millionaire. Seeing this Jamal asks her in a laughing manner, 'Why does everyone watch this
show? (Boyle)Latika answers, 'I do not know, who doesn`t watch it?, (Boyle) sarcastically.
With this Jamal says to her I will wait at the train station at Iive Ior you every day until you
come. At Iive on the Iirst day he waits, she comes, but so does Salim and the other handy
workers oI Javis-Khan. BeIore Jamal can rush to her rescue Salim and the others take her away
back to Javis`s home. With this Jamal is crushed, but one day at work a commercial comes on
Ior, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, saying call now to be on the show. So, Jamal, who watches
the show every day knows the precise timing, wins and becomes the next contestant on the show
in order to hopeIully, get Latika`s attention and let her know he still loves her and she is not
Iorgotten.
Through all oI this, Jamal`s plight to Iind his love led him on an adventurous journey
which in the end, as you can see relates to how and why he got onto the game show, but also his
reasons Ior going on it. Which are so clearly stated that he does it only Ior the hope oI reuniting
himselI with Latika. The purpose Ior this Iilm was a love story based oII oI Jamal Malik`s liIe
and how he goes through it constantly trying to Iind his love. Three times Jamal tries to reunite
himselI with Latika. Once, traveling to the city oI Mumbai and Iinding her amongst the millions
Comment |CS18]: CreaLed a new senLence 8un
on and lncreases flow
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oI people in the city, Twice, when Jamal tells her to meet him at the train station at Iive, Ior
every day he will wait. Lastly, and most relative to the Iilm, he goes onto the game show, Who
Wants to be a Millionaire, and through that he gets her attention and she is able to escape with
the help oI Salim, who kills Javis, and Jamal and Latika are reunited Iorever. Three times, Jamal
tried, and twice he Iailed, but in the end his love Ior her prevailed and through his eIIorts was
able to Iind her and reunite their selves again Iorever. All this comes to convey though the text oI
the Iilm that the whole Iilm was based oII oI Jamal`s eIIort to Iind Latika oI which he relates his
whole liIe through the game show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and successIully shows that
his story is based oII what the character does that by the end relates to the entire Iilm as a whole.














Comment |CS13]: Changed Lwo Lo Lwlce Lo
lncrease clarlLy
Comment |CS20]: Added comma ln beLween
sallm and who and also !avls and and lncreases
flow and obeys grammar rules
Shover 6


Works Cited
Slumdog Millionaire [Blu-ray]. Dir. Danny Boyle. PerI. Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Saurabh
Shukla. Twentieth Century Fox, 2009. DVD.
"Slums." Macalester College. Private Liberal Arts College. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2011.
http://www.macalester.edu/courses/~
"Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - IMDb." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). N.p., n.d. Web. 4
Oct. 2011. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt101~