I am reading the book Slumdog Millionaire, which was first published as Q&A. If anything, the book is better than the movie, and that is no exaggeration. Considering the movie had already won 11 awards before it swept the BAFTAs by taking an additional 7 (and the Oscars aren’t even here yet!), that is indeed remarkable.
If this is anything to go by, I may find myself buying other books by Vikash Swarup, the author. I noticed that several of his books have crossover characters, and each book deals with a single character’s tale in great detail. Reminds me of the movie Life in a Metro.
There are several changes to the story for the movie, the most notable [so far] is the that the story of Ram Mohammed Thomas’ life is told not to police beating the crap out of him, but to a female lawyer who rescues him from the beatings. The central character’s name has been changed to Jamal Malik for the movie but the book explains the name Ram Mohammed Thomas in multicultural India with ease.
The book also explains that Ram was on a new game show giving away 1 billion rupees, ‘the biggest prize on earth’, as a publicity stunt by a rival network to beat Who wants to be a Millionaire. Ram was the first contestant. The movie changes these to suit the knowledge of the viewers.
Still, the movie is excellent, and the book even better.
