Slumdog Millionaire starts off with a police inspector in Mumbai, India, interrogating Jamal Malik, a former slumdog street child from the…
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Slumdog Millionaire starts off with a police inspector in Mumbai, India, interrogating Jamal Malik, a former slumdog street child from the slums of Dharavi. The scene reveals four ways in which he could have won 20 million rupees which the police don't believe he won fair, A) He cheated, B) He's lucky, C) He's a genius, D) It is written.

Jamal competed on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire hosted by Prem Kumar. Jamal made it to the final question and the next day will be when he attempts to answer it and win all the money, but the police just don't buy that he has the knowledge to answer the prior questions. Jamal then explains to them, that the question about Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan was easy, he knew the answers of most questions because of things that happened in his life. He flashes back documenting different times in his childhood. This includes scenes of him obtaining the autograph of Amitabh Bachchan; the death of his mother during Hindu-Muslim riots in the slums; and how he and his brother Salim befriended the orphan girl Latika.

Jamal's favorite book from school was The Three Musketeers, Salim and himself are Athos and Porthos, and Latika becomes the third Musketeer. The life these young two brothers is anything but happy. They end up being captured by someone who burns the eyes of children but Jamal and Salim escape. Latika doesn't. As time goes on they end up going through various trials throughout their youth and eventually find Latika. But Salim rescues her and takes her to a crime boss and they both abandon Jamal.

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 and confronts a regretful Salim on tense terms. Salim invites Jamal to live with him and, after following Salim to Javed's the crime bosses house, he sees Latika living there. He pretends to be a new dishwasher and tries to convince Latika to leave. She is too scared to leave, but he promises to be at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station every day at 5 p.m. for her.

One day Latika decides to try to meet 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. Jamal again loses contact with Latika when Javed moves to another house. In another attempt to find Latika, Jamal ends up trying out for the game show to get Latika's attention. He makes it to the final question, despite the hostile attitude of the host who feeds Jamal an incorrect answer during a break.

At the end of the show, Jamal has one question left to win 20 million, or Rs. 2 crore and is taken into police custody, where he is tortured starts. After Jamal tells his whole story, explaining how his life experiences coincidentally enabled him to know the answer to each question; the police inspector calls his explanation "bizarrely plausible" and allows Jamal to return to the show for the final question.

At Javed's safe house, Latika watches the news coverage of Jamal's miraculous run on the show. Salim gives Latika the keys to his car and his phone and urges her to run away. When Jamal uses his Phone-A-Friend lifeline to call Salim, Latika answers his phone and they reconnect.

She does not know the answer to the final question either, but believing that "it is written", Jamal guesses the correct answer to the question of the one Musketeer whose name they never learned, and wins the grand prize. Simultaneously, Salim is discovered to have helped Latika escape and allows himself to be killed in a bathtub full of money after shooting and killing Javed. Salim's last words are "God is great". Later that night, Jamal and Latika meet at the railway station. It is then revealed that the correct answer to the opening question is: D) it is written.