chunk: In 2006, eighteen-year-old Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) from the Juhu slum, is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (see Kaun Banega Crorepati), and is one question away from the grand prize. However, before the ₹20 million (US$300,000) question, he is detained and tortured by the police, who suspect him of cheating because of the impossibility of a simple "slumdog" with very little education knowing all the answers. Jamal recounts, through flashbacks, the incidents in his life which provided him with each answer.