A poor, uneducated, young man by the name of Ram Mohammad Thomas enters a show called ‚Who Wants To Be A Billionaire‘ to win the grand prize so he could free his love, who is a prostitute. Suddenly, Ram gets arrested with speculation of him cheating. But when is sat down and questioned by a lawyer he tells her how he knows all the answers, and ends up telling her his whole life story.
When Ram was younger he was raised by an English priest, who gave him his name, but also gets murdered by a couple of drug dealers. Leaving behind Ram and his Biological son who he has never met. He later moves into an poor condition, literally one room apartment with his best friend Salim, who dreams of becoming a Bollywood movie star.
Later on, a family including a father, mother and a daughter named Smita move in beside them. In that period of time Ram and Smita become very close and soon become „brother and sister“. Ram tries to help comfort Smita when her alcoholic father abuses her and her mother. Soon enough Ram decides enough is enough, and kills Smita’s father, leading to Ram and Salim running away.
While attending a school they get picked by a man who promises to give them a better life, but they later find out that it is all a scam, and the men torture the kids, and make them sing on the street to earn enough money to get dinner. Ram tries to convince Salim to go with runaway with him but Salim won’t go because he still believes that the men will give him his big break! So Ram runs away alone.
TIPP für Schüler: Zur Vorbereitung auf das Abitur oder für Klausuren kann ich diese Lektüre empfehlen; sie enthält professionelle Inhaltsangaben in Form einer Lehrerübersicht. Leicht verständliche Zusammenfassungen und Analysen enthält außerdem diese Lektüre. Vikas Swarups Buch Slumdog Millionaire ist ein Schwerpunktthema im Fach Englisch.
While on the train to go to a new city, a robbery occurs and he ends up killing another man to save his money. In the new city he gets a new job, and becomes a waiter. But later decides to get another one, and becomes the maid of the famous actress Neelima Kumari. Over time Ram finds out Neelima is obsessed with staying young forever because it is the only way she can get main roles in Bollywood movies. Neelima is soon being abused by her boyfriend, which later leads to her to committing suicide. While working for Neelima, Ram meets a young boy by the name of Shankar who shows him a place he could stay. Unfortunately, Shankar gets bitten by a stray dog, and gets rabies and later dies.
Ram decides to go back home, and runs into Salim, who is on the verge of his big break! Ram later becomes a tpur guide at the Taj Mahal. And soon in time he meets a prostitute, Nita, who he later falls in love with. She tells him how she wants to be free, but her pimp, who is her brother demands money from Ram. He finally gets the money to later finds out that Nita has landed in the hospital after being abused. At the hospital Ram makes a decision to give his money to a father who’s son has rabies and needs a vaccine before he dies, reminding him of Shankar.
And this brings us back to the beginning, Ram becomes free, Nita has become free, Salim becomes a Bollywood movie star and Ram finds out that his lawyer is his long time friend, Smita.
„Why does the coin have the same thing on the sides?“ Smita asked
„Because luck comes from within.“ Ram said.
TIPP für Schüler: Zur Vorbereitung auf das Abitur oder für Klausuren kann ich diese Lektüre empfehlen; sie enthält professionelle Inhaltsangaben in Form einer Lehrerübersicht. Leicht verständliche Zusammenfassungen und Analysen enthält außerdem diese Lektüre. Vikas Swarups Buch Slumdog Millionaire ist ein Schwerpunktthema im Fach Englisch.
Ram goes on to tell her how by drawing from the experiences of his own short, yet turbulent and sometimes cruel life, he, a young, poor waiter, answered the twelve questions that led him to the jackpot. Through this device, the novel moves between Mumbai , Delhi and Agra (non-chronologically) as it highlights Ram’s bizarre experiences, from his original upbringing by an English-speaking priest to his various jobs, which include working as house help for an aging Bollywood actress, in a foundry, an Australian diplomat who turns out to be in a spy ring, as a tourist guide in Agra and a waiter in a bar at Mumbai. His best friend is another young orphan named Salim, who plays a part in some of these adventures and dreams of becoming an actor, as it was foretold by a palmist at a fair. Ram was told by the same palmist that he would not live a very long life, but he doesn’t believe in foretelling the future and dismisses it. Salim later becomes an actor after saving a Bollywood producer from assassination from a professional hitman. However, the key events of Ram’s life come when he works as a tour guide at the Taj Mahal, which is when he meets a young prostitute named Nita. He falls in love with her and asks her pimp to let her marry him, but the pimp refuses. Meanwhile, Ram’s friend Shankar is dying of rabies . He needs 400,000 rupees to buy a vaccination, and Nita’s pimp demands the same amount. Shankar dies, and Ram steals the money from Shankar’s uncaring mother. After learning that the pimp (who is also Nita’s brother) will continue to demand even more money, he instead gives it to an English teacher whose son needs the rabies vaccine . The teacher later helps answer Ram’s question about William Shakespeare when Ram uses his Friendly Tip Lifeboat.
Years later, Jamal has a position as a „chai-wallah“ (a boy or young man who serves tea) at a call centre. When he is asked to cover for a co-worker for a couple of minutes, he searches the database for Salim and Latika. He gets in touch with Salim, who has become a high-ranking lieutenant in Javed’s organization. Jamal confronts a regretful Salim on tense terms. Salim invites Jamal to live with him and, after following Salim to Javed’s house, he sees Latika living there. He talks his way in as the new chef and tries to convince Latika to leave. She rebuffs his advances, but he promises to be at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station every day at 5 p.m. for her. She tries to discourage him, but on the first day that Jamal waits there, Latika attempts to rendezvous with him, but is recaptured by Salim and Javed’s men. One of the men then slashes her cheek with a knife, scarring her as Salim drives off, leaving Jamal with the onlooking crowd.