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Colour photograph of a Gothic Revival railway station with domes and spires floodlit gold under a blue evening sky, traffic in front
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus lit up at night, August 2023. Dr. Raju Kasambe · CC BY-SA 4.0

Mumbai · Agra · filmed from November 2007Eight Oscars, 2009

Who knew every answer?Slumdog Millionaire

Colour photograph of a smiling young man in a grey waistcoat and striped shirt against a dark background
Dev Patel in November 2008, the month the film opened in the United States. Romina Espinosa · CC BY-SA 3.0
Colour photograph of Freida Pinto with long dark hair, smiling, against a black background
Freida Pinto in November 2008, the month the film opened in the United States. Romina Espinosa · CC BY-SA 3.0
Colour photograph of a smiling man with spiky hair in a dark jacket and patterned shirt, at night
Danny Boyle at the Toronto International Film Festival, September 2008, where the film was screened. gdcgraphics · CC BY-SA 2.0
Colour photograph of a station concourse under a steel and glass roof, with a large clock, platform number signs and crowds of passengers
The clock over the suburban platforms at CSMT, June 2025. DesiBoy101 · CC BY 4.0

Pick an answer and lock it in. Every one is real, and every place can be visited.

Portraits from the film’s release, autumn 2008: Dev Patel and Freida Pinto, Romina Espinosa · CC BY-SA 3.0; Danny Boyle at Toronto, gdcgraphics · CC BY-SA 2.0. The station: DesiBoy101 · CC BY 4.0; behind, Dr. Raju Kasambe · CC BY-SA 4.0.

Seven questions · three lifelines · one life

Final answer.

Every question Jamal is asked comes from something that happened to him. Here every answer is a place from his story, and you can visit almost all of them. Use a lifeline once each.

  1. 7₹2 crore
  2. 6₹1 crore
  3. 5₹25 lakh
  4. 4₹6,40,000
  5. 3₹1,60,000
  6. 2₹40,000
  7. 1₹10,000

Question 1 of 7 · ₹10,000

Reality Tours’ walks here pass pottery, recycling, soap and papad workshops. Where are you?

Question 1 of 7, for ₹10,000. Choose an answer.

Where we read it
Where we read it

  • Jamal is one question from the ₹2 crore (20 million rupee) prize; for the last he phones Salim. Only the top prize on our ladder is the film’s.

    Wikipedia: Slumdog Millionaire

  • The game show is the Hindi version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, hosted in the film by Anil Kapoor.

    Wikipedia: Slumdog Millionaire

Dharavi · Mahim · Juhu

Jamal’s Mumbai.

The crew shot in the lanes where people live and work, with cameras small enough not to get in the way. Go the same way: on foot, on a walk that puts residents first, and without a camera.

Colour photograph of a heap of small terracotta lamps with cut-out patterns
Clay lamps at Kumbharwada, Dharavi’s potters’ quarter, March 2019. SriChinnu · CC BY-SA 4.0

Mahim Junction station, the meeting point for Reality Tours’ Dharavi walk

Dharavi, from Mahim Junction

The production notes say the crew shot in and around Dharavi, which they call India’s largest slum. Small cameras were chosen partly because big 35mm rigs would have disturbed the streets; a stills camera shooting twelve frames a second was used as well. Reality Tours’ walk passes recycling, pottery, bakery, soap, leather and papad workshops, homes and religious sites, and the community centre run by its charity, Reality Gives. The company says 80% of its post-tax profit goes to Reality Gives, and that it keeps a strict no-camera policy to respect residents’ privacy.

Go with a walk, not on your own: Reality Tours & Travel meets at Mahim station at 10am or 2.30pm (shared, from ₹1,600, at most six people, 2½ hours). No cameras: the rule is there for the people who live here.

Where we read it
Reality Tours & Travel

Dharavi Tour with Reality Tours & Travel

Dharavi, Mumbai · Shared from ₹1,600 per person

Two and a half hours on foot through workshops (pottery, recycling, soap, leather, papad), homes and the community centre run by its charity, Reality Gives, which gets 80% of post-tax profit. At most six people; no cameras, out of respect for residents. Meet at Mahim station (10am or 2.30pm) or Churchgate (9.15am or 1.45pm).

See the walk
Colour photograph of a still tidal creek edged with mangroves, apartment blocks on the far side
Mahim Creek, where the Mithi River meets the sea, September 2008. Nicholas (Nichalp) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Bandra–Sion Link Road, beside Dharavi bus depot

Mahim Creek, at Mahim Nature Park

The crew filmed near Mahim Creek, which the notes describe as fed by a giant pipeline running through the middle of the slums. Mahim Creek is the tidal creek the Mithi River opens into. The nature park beside it was once a rubbish dump; Dr Salim Ali began planting trees there in 1983. Today it has more than 120 kinds of bird and 75 of butterfly, and a farmers’ market on Sundays.

Weekdays 9.30am to 6pm, ₹10; weekends and holidays by prior permission. Sion station is a walk away. The bird-watching area is by the creek.

Where we read it
Colour photograph of a wide sandy beach with people walking at the water’s edge and tower blocks along the shore
Juhu Beach, May 2019. Shishirdasika · CC BY-SA 4.0

Juhu Beach, on the Arabian Sea

Juhu

The notes say the crew also shot in Juhu, which they call one of the most vibrant slums, next to the airport and seen by everyone flying into Mumbai. Juhu Beach runs for about 5 kilometres along the Arabian Sea, lined with street-food sellers. Juhu Aerodrome, founded in 1928, was India’s first civil airport.

The beach is public and best at the end of the day, with street food along the sand. Nearest stations: Vile Parle, Santacruz or Andheri; the film’s lanes behind it are homes, so keep to the beach.

Where we read it

The midpoint surprise

Scripted full, filmed empty.

As filmed: an abandoned five-star hotel, every room dark.

Our drawing, not the building.

An abandoned five-star hotel in Mumbai; the notes call it the Tulip Star

The empty hotel

The script called for a fully working hotel. Boyle suggested shooting in an abandoned five-star one instead, and kept it empty on screen. He said the empty building gave those scenes an extra layer of poignancy; it also saved two days of the schedule. Colson called it a very creepy place.

No address is given, so it is not pinned. It was empty in 2007; it is not a place to visit.

Where we read it

Mumbai to Agra · the montage

On the roof.

The film jumps forward in time while the brothers ride across India on top of the trains, getting by however they can. Move the train on a stretch at a time.

Riding on topSellingWashing upGuiding

Our drawing. No source we found names where the roof scenes were shot.

Stretch 1 of 4: Riding on top. The brothers travel across India on the roofs of trains.

Where we read it
Colour photograph of the white marble Taj Mahal glowing orange at sunrise, seen through a dark sandstone arch
The Taj Mahal at sunrise, framed by the arch of the great gate, December 2015. Philip Nalangan · CC BY 4.0

At the end of the line

Taj Ganj, Agra, on the right bank of the Yamuna

Taj Mahal

Jamal and Salim pose as tour guides here in the film. Producer Christian Colson remembers going from the Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful places you will ever see, straight to far rougher locations. Shah Jahan commissioned it in 1631 for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. The mausoleum was finished in 1648 and the whole complex around 1653. About five million people visit each year.

Open from an hour before sunrise to 45 minutes before sunset; closed on Fridays. Foreign visitors paid ₹1,100 in 2024. Night viewing on full-moon nights, except in Ramadan.

Where we read it
Oberoi Hotels & Resorts

The Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra

Taj East Gate Road, Agra

Six hundred metres from the Taj Mahal, and every room and suite looks at it, the hotel says. Taj East Gate Road. The Taj itself is closed on Fridays. Not a filming location.

Check rooms
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Sunrise at the Taj Mahal

Agra

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Victoria Terminus · over the end credits

Every platform.

The film ends with a dance on the station, choreographed by Longinus Fernandes, to A. R. Rahman’s Jai Ho. The station has 18 platforms. Call them in, one at a time or all at once, and fill the concourse.

Call a platform

Our drawing: four dancers a platform is our count, not the film’s.

Suburban 1–7

Long distance 8–18

0 of 18 platforms on the floor. The concourse is waiting.

Colour photograph of a station concourse under a steel and glass roof, with a large clock, platform number signs and crowds of passengers
The clock over the suburban platforms at CSMT, June 2025. DesiBoy101 · CC BY 4.0
Colour photograph of a Gothic Revival railway station with domes and spires floodlit gold under a blue evening sky, traffic in front
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus lit up at night, August 2023. Dr. Raju Kasambe · CC BY-SA 4.0

Fort, south Mumbai; Victoria Terminus in the film’s day

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus

The crew filmed the dance that plays over the end credits here, at Victoria Terminus. Frederick William Stevens designed it; work began in 1878 and it opened on 20 May 1888, named for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. It became Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in 1996 and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in 2017, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004. It has 18 platforms: 7 for suburban trains and 11 for long-distance ones.

A working station: the suburban platforms are under the big clock. Come after dark to see the front lit up from across the road, and stay out of the way of commuters at rush hour.

Where we read it

Sukhwinder Singh leads the song, with Vijay Prakash on the chants and Mahalakshmi Iyer between them. It won the Oscar for Best Original Song, the first Indian song to do so, and later a Grammy.

Where we read it

  • Jai Ho: music by A. R. Rahman, words by Gulzar; sung by Sukhwinder Singh, Vijay Prakash and Mahalakshmi Iyer; the end-credits dance choreographed by Longinus Fernandes; the Oscar, the first for an Indian song, and the Grammy of 31 January 2010.

    Wikipedia: Jai Ho (song)

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Toronto · Beverly Hills · Hollywood

The contestants.

  • Colour photograph of a smiling man with spiky hair in a dark jacket and patterned shirt, at night
    Danny Boyle at the Toronto International Film Festival, September 2008, where the film was screened. gdcgraphics · CC BY-SA 2.0

    Danny BoyleDirector

  • Colour photograph of a smiling young man in a grey waistcoat and striped shirt against a dark background
    Dev Patel in November 2008, the month the film opened in the United States. Romina Espinosa · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Dev PatelJamal Malik

  • Colour photograph of Freida Pinto with long dark hair, smiling, against a black background
    Freida Pinto in November 2008, the month the film opened in the United States. Romina Espinosa · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Freida PintoLatika

  • Colour photograph of a man in a dark suit singing into a microphone on a brightly lit stage
    A. R. Rahman on stage at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, December 2010, the year after the film’s Oscars. Harrywad · CC BY-SA 3.0

    A. R. RahmanMusic

  • Colour photograph of Loveleen Tandan in a green top, smiling, outdoors
    Loveleen Tandan in 2014. Anna1890 · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Loveleen TandanCo-director, India

Boyle almost passed: he had no interest in a film about a game show, until he learned Simon Beaufoy, who wrote The Full Monty, was adapting it. It was his daughter who pointed him to Dev Patel, then in the television series Skins.

Freida Pinto waited six months to learn she had the part. Loveleen Tandan began as one of the casting directors in India, wrote the Hindi dialogue and became co-director; Boyle said he could not have made the film without her.

Colour photograph of a laughing man in a dinner suit surrounded by adults and children in evening wear on a crowded red carpet
Danny Boyle, centre, with members of the cast and the film’s young actors on the red carpet at the 81st Academy Awards, 22 February 2009. Greg in Hollywood (Greg Hernandez) · CC BY-SA 2.0
Where we read it
Colour photograph of four people on a dark stage, a young woman speaking into a microphone
Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, Freida Pinto and Dev Patel on stage at the film’s screening at the Ryerson Theatre, Toronto International Film Festival, September 2008. Jeff Karpala · CC BY-SA 2.0

43 Gerrard Street East, Toronto; now the Chrysalis at the Creative School

Ryerson Theatre, Toronto

Boyle, Beaufoy, Pinto and Patel took the stage at the film’s screening here during the 2008 festival. The 2008 Toronto International Film Festival ran from 4 to 13 September. Slumdog Millionaire won its People’s Choice Award. The theatre, formerly the Ryerson Theatre, seats 1,237 and is now the Chrysalis at the Creative School.

A 1,237-seat university theatre that has long been a Toronto festival venue. See it from Gerrard Street, or catch a show.

Where we read it
Colour photograph of a long white modernist hotel behind palm trees, with a sign reading The Beverly Hilton
The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, May 2007. Minnaert · Public domain

Merv Griffin Way, Beverly Hills

The Beverly Hilton

The 66th Golden Globe Awards were held here on 11 January 2009. Slumdog Millionaire won four, the most of the night: Best Drama, Director, Screenplay and Original Score.

A working hotel. Stand outside, or book a table or a room to go in; the ballroom is for events.

Where we read it
Colour photograph of a cream theatre entrance on a busy street, with a red tour bus passing
The Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, September 2025. Busition · CC BY 4.0

6801 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles

Dolby Theatre (the Kodak Theatre in 2009)

The 81st Academy Awards were held here, then the Kodak Theatre, on 22 February 2009. Slumdog Millionaire won eight of its ten nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. A. R. Rahman won two: Original Score, and Original Song for Jai Ho, shared with the lyricist Gulzar. Resul Pookutty shared Sound Mixing with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke.

On Hollywood Boulevard. The auditorium opens for shows; the entrance steps are there to stand on any day.

Where we read it
Hilton

The Beverly Hilton

Beverly Hills, California

Where the film won four Golden Globes on 11 January 2009, the most of the night.

Check rooms

Go and stand there.

Where it is now

8 places you can stand in, from Mahim station to Hollywood Boulevard. The empty hotel and the quiz set in Karjat are named, never pinned.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Go with a walk, not on your own: Reality Tours & Travel meets at Mahim station at 10am or 2.30pm (shared, from ₹1,600, at most six people, 2½ hours). No cameras: the rule is there for the people who live here.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Weekdays 9.30am to 6pm, ₹10; weekends and holidays by prior permission. Sion station is a walk away. The bird-watching area is by the creek.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The beach is public and best at the end of the day, with street food along the sand. Nearest stations: Vile Parle, Santacruz or Andheri; the film’s lanes behind it are homes, so keep to the beach.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working station: the suburban platforms are under the big clock. Come after dark to see the front lit up from across the road, and stay out of the way of commuters at rush hour.

  1. Colour photograph of a heap of small terracotta lamps with cut-out patterns
    Clay lamps at Kumbharwada, Dharavi’s potters’ quarter, March 2019. SriChinnu · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Mahim Junction station, the meeting point for Reality Tours’ Dharavi walk

    Dharavi, from Mahim Junction

    The production notes say the crew shot in and around Dharavi, which they call India’s largest slum.

    Go with a walk, not on your own: Reality Tours & Travel meets at Mahim station at 10am or 2.30pm (shared, from ₹1,600, at most six people, 2½ hours). No cameras: the rule is there for the people who live here.

    Where we read it
  2. Colour photograph of a still tidal creek edged with mangroves, apartment blocks on the far side
    Mahim Creek, where the Mithi River meets the sea, September 2008. Nicholas (Nichalp) · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Bandra–Sion Link Road, beside Dharavi bus depot

    Mahim Creek, at Mahim Nature Park

    The crew filmed near Mahim Creek, which the notes describe as fed by a giant pipeline running through the middle of the slums.

    Weekdays 9.30am to 6pm, ₹10; weekends and holidays by prior permission. Sion station is a walk away. The bird-watching area is by the creek.

    Where we read it
  3. Colour photograph of a wide sandy beach with people walking at the water’s edge and tower blocks along the shore
    Juhu Beach, May 2019. Shishirdasika · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Juhu Beach, on the Arabian Sea

    Juhu

    The notes say the crew also shot in Juhu, which they call one of the most vibrant slums, next to the airport and seen by everyone flying into Mumbai.

    The beach is public and best at the end of the day, with street food along the sand. Nearest stations: Vile Parle, Santacruz or Andheri; the film’s lanes behind it are homes, so keep to the beach.

    Where we read it
  4. Colour photograph of a Gothic Revival railway station with domes and spires floodlit gold under a blue evening sky, traffic in front
    Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus lit up at night, August 2023. Dr. Raju Kasambe · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Fort, south Mumbai; Victoria Terminus in the film’s day

    Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus

    The crew filmed the dance that plays over the end credits here, at Victoria Terminus.

    A working station: the suburban platforms are under the big clock. Come after dark to see the front lit up from across the road, and stay out of the way of commuters at rush hour.

    Where we read it

Stay

A room facing the Taj.

In Agra, six hundred metres from the gate; in Beverly Hills, where the Globes were won.

Oberoi Hotels & Resorts

The Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra

Taj East Gate Road, Agra

Six hundred metres from the Taj Mahal, and every room and suite looks at it, the hotel says. Taj East Gate Road. The Taj itself is closed on Fridays. Not a filming location.

Check rooms
Hilton

The Beverly Hilton

Beverly Hills, California

Where the film won four Golden Globes on 11 January 2009, the most of the night.

Check rooms

Go there

On foot, without a camera.

A Dharavi walk that bans cameras and funds a community centre, and marketplace tours for CSMT, the Taj and the studios.

Reality Tours & Travel

Dharavi Tour with Reality Tours & Travel

Dharavi, Mumbai · Shared from ₹1,600 per person

Two and a half hours on foot through workshops (pottery, recycling, soap, leather, papad), homes and the community centre run by its charity, Reality Gives, which gets 80% of post-tax profit. At most six people; no cameras, out of respect for residents. Meet at Mahim station (10am or 2.30pm) or Churchgate (9.15am or 1.45pm).

See the walk
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Mumbai walks past CSMT

Fort, Mumbai

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Sunrise at the Taj Mahal

Agra

Live marketplace results for guided sunrise visits, the way Jamal never did it. The Taj is closed on Fridays.

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Bollywood studio tours

Mumbai

Live marketplace results for studio tours in Mumbai, most at Film City in Goregaon. The film’s quiz set was not there: it was rebuilt in Karjat.

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What’s on

Rahman, live in Mumbai.

The Wonderment Tour comes to Jio World Garden on 1 November 2026.

Checking current event dates…

Take it home

A poster, a novel, a score.

The original US one-sheet from our store, Vikas Swarup’s novel and Rahman’s soundtrack.

Printed Originals · Our poster store

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) — US one-sheet

An original 2008 US one-sheet, 27 × 40 inches, rolled. Mint.

In stock

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Slumdog Millionaire (first published as Q & A)

Vikas Swarup · Scribner

The 2005 novel the film is loosely based on. Simon Beaufoy, who adapted it, called it twelve short stories.

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Slumdog Millionaire (Music from the Motion Picture)

A. R. Rahman · CD, Interscope, 2008

Rahman’s Oscar-winning score and Jai Ho. US release, December 2008.

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Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.

Every answer, with its sources

Every place and moment behind this page.

10 of 10 places · 10 of 10 Moments

  • Dharavi, from Mahim Junction

    Mahim Junction station, the meeting point for Reality Tours’ Dharavi walk

    • Small cameras in the lanes

      The crew shot in and around Dharavi with small digital cameras and a fast stills camera, to disturb the streets as little as possible.

  • Mahim Creek, at Mahim Nature Park

    Bandra–Sion Link Road, beside Dharavi bus depot

    • By the pipeline

      Filming near Mahim Creek and the pipeline that runs through the middle of the slums.

  • Juhu

    Juhu Beach, on the Arabian Sea

    • By the airport

      Filming in Juhu, beside the airport.

  • The empty hotel

    An abandoned five-star hotel in Mumbai; the notes call it the Tulip Star

    • Scripted full, filmed empty

      A hotel scripted as busy, filmed in an abandoned five-star building instead.

  • Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus

    Fort, south Mumbai; Victoria Terminus in the film’s day

    • The dance on the platforms

      The dance that plays over the end credits, filmed at Victoria Terminus.

  • The quiz-show set, rebuilt in Karjat

    Karjat, Maharashtra

    • The quiz show, rebuilt

      The KBC set, re-created in Karjat by the company that made the show.

  • Taj Mahal

    Taj Ganj, Agra, on the right bank of the Yamuna

    • Tour guides for a day

      Jamal and Salim pose as tour guides at the Taj Mahal.

  • Ryerson Theatre, Toronto

    43 Gerrard Street East, Toronto; now the Chrysalis at the Creative School

    • The audience votes

      The cast and director at the festival screening; the film wins the People’s Choice Award.

  • The Beverly Hilton

    Merv Griffin Way, Beverly Hills

    • Four Globes

      Best Drama, Director, Screenplay and Original Score.

  • Dolby Theatre (the Kodak Theatre in 2009)

    6801 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles

    • Eight Oscars

      Eight Academy Awards from ten nominations, including Best Picture.

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