INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
The prize-winning novel that inspired the acclaimed film Slumdog Millionaire: winner of eight Academy Awards—including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay
Ram Mohammad Thomas has been arrested on suspicion of fraud for answering all twelve questions correctly on TV’s Who Will Win a Billion? Ram has never gone to school. He has never read a newspaper. There is no way a poor orphan from Jimmy’s Bar could know the names of the planets or the plays of Shakespeare . . . unless he has cheated. Rescued from his police cell by a lawyer, Ram reviews television footage of his flawless performance and takes us on an amazing tour of his life growing up in Asia’s biggest slum—from the day he is salvaged from a garbage can to his job with a faded Bollywood star, to working as an overly imaginative tour guide at the Taj Mahal, to falling in love with Nita, a young prostitute. A brilliantly conceived fable with a modern sensibility, Slumdog Millionaire is a comic and charming novel that paints an enthralling portrait of humanity.
Ram is one question away from winning one billion rupees, but how did he do it?
Ram has been arrested for answering twelve questions correctly on TV’s Who Will Win a Billion? He has never gone to school and has never read a newspaper. There is no way, the authorities insist, that a poor orphan from Jimmy’s Bar could know the names of the planets or the plays of Shakespeare . . . unless he cheated.
Rescued from his police cell by a lawyer, Ram reviews television footage of his flawless performance and takes readers on an amazing tour of his life growing up in Asia’s biggest slum—from the moment he was rescued from a garbage can by a priest, to his days spent working with a faded Bollywood star, to his job as an over-creative tour guide at the Taj Mahal, to falling in love with Nita, a young prostitute.
A brilliantly conceived fable with a modern sensibility, Slumdog Millionaire contains all of the comedy, tragedy, joy and pathos of modern India.
Originally published as Q & A
“That rare novel that chugs along on the parallel tracks of being a rollicking read as well as being a polished, varnished, finished work of impressive craftsmanship.”
