A Mumbai teen, who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers.

Jamal Malik: When somebody asks me a question, I tell them the answer.
Prem Kumar: Its getting hot in here.
Jamal Malik: Are you nervous?
Prem Kumar: [audience laughs] What? Am I nervous ? Its you whos in the hot seat, my friend!
Jamal Malik: Yes, sorry.
Jamal Malik: If it wasn't for Rama and Allah, I'd still have a mother.
Jamal Malik: I knew you'd be watching.
Latika: I thought we would meet only in death.
Jamal Malik: This is our destiny.
Latika: Kiss me.
Youngest Salim: [giving a baby to Latika] Keep her crying and you'll earn triple.
Police Inspector: Money and women. The reasons for make most mistakes in life. Looks like you've mixed up both.
Maman: Jamal, time has come to turn professional.
Youngest Jamal: Really?
Maman: But first, let me hear that song Darshan Do Ghanshyam, my favorite bhajan.
Youngest Jamal: [sings] Darshan Do
[stops and commands]
Youngest Jamal: Fifty rupees!
Maman: [bewildered]
Youngest Jamal: I'm a professional now, what to do?
Maman: [laughs] Cheeky little bugger!
Jamal Malik: I'll wait for you at the train station every day at five.
Prem Kumar: Final question for twenty million rupees, and he's smiling. I guess you know the answer.
Jamal Malik: Do you believe it, I don't!
Prem Kumar: You don't? So you take the ten million and walk?
Jamal Malik: No. I'll play.
[his last lines]
Older Salim: God is great!
Prem Kumar: [starting lines] So Jamal, tell me something about yourself.
Jamal Malik: I work in a call centre in Juhu.
Prem Kumar: Phone basher! And what type of call centre would that be?
Jamal Malik: XL5 mobile phones.
Prem Kumar: Ohh... so you're the one who calls me up every single day of my life with special offers?
Jamal Malik: Actually I'm an assistant.
Prem Kumar: An assistant phone basher? And what does an assistant phone basher do exactly?
Jamal Malik: I get tea for people and...
Prem Kumar: Chaiwalah! Well ladies and gentlemen, Jamal Malik, garma garam chai dene walah from Mumbai, lets play Who Wants To Be A Millionaire!
Police Inspector: [whispering] Doctors... Lawyers... never get past 60 thousand rupees. He's won 10 million.
[pause]
Police Inspector: What the hell can a slumdog possibly know?
Jamal Malik: [quietly] The answers.
[spits out blood]
Jamal Malik: [quietly and gently] I knew the answers.
Middle Jamal: [seeing the Taj Mahal] Is this heaven?
Middle Salim: You're not dead Jamal.
Middle Jamal: What is it? Some hotel?
Jamal Malik: I love you.
Latika: So what?
Older Salim: Left a message for you at work.
Jamal Malik: There was no message.
Older Salim: I definitely left a mess...
Jamal Malik: There was no message! There was no message! THERE WAS NO MESSAGE!
Jamal Malik: [Looks down at Salim starting to cry a little]
Jamal Malik: I will never forgive you!
Older Salim: I know.
Latika: You want to do something for me?
Jamal Malik: Anything.
Latika: Then forget me!
Latika: I thought we'd be together only in death.
Police Inspector: Well, well. The Slumdog Barks.
Javed: My enemy's enemy is a friend.
[after being beaten by a cop for vandalizing a car]
Jamal Malik: [to an American tourist couple] You wanted to see a bit of the real India?
Jamal Malik: [angrily to the cop] Here it is!
Prem Kumar: A few hours ago, you were giving chai for the phone walahs. And now you're richer than they will ever be. What a player!
Prem Kumar: Ladies and gentlemen, what a player!
[audience applauds]
Prem Kumar: So are you ready for the final question for 20 million rupees?
Jamal Malik: No, but maybe its written, no?
Prem Kumar: Maybe...
Middle Jamal: The guide book was written by a bunch of lazy good-for-nothing Indian beggars!
[last lines]
Latika: Kiss me!
[Salim and Jamal are sitting on the edge of an apartment floor, under construction]
Older Salim: That... used to be our slum. Can you believe that, huh?
[pointing at something]
Older Salim: We used to live right there, man. Now, it's all business. India is at the center of the world now, bhai. And I... I am at the center... of the center. This is all Javed bhai's.
Jamal Malik: Javed Khan... the gangster from our slum? You work for him?
Older Salim: Come on, who else do you think would save us from Maman's guys, huh?
Jamal Malik: What do you do for him?
Older Salim: Anything he asks.
[pause in conversation, as Salim's phone rings]
Older Salim: He's coming. You need to go now. Take my card.
Jamal Malik: What for?
Older Salim: You think I'm gonna let you out of my sights again, huh? You stay with me now, younger brother. Now, go. My place.
Jamal Malik: Salim, where is Latika?
Older Salim: Still...? She's gone, brother. Long gone. Now, go. Go to my place.
Shruti Seth: Baali, keep up! The chaiwalah knows more than you.
Middle Salim: Shut up! The man with the Colt 45 says shut up!
Youngest Jamal: I just need Maman to like my singing, and were in the money, big money Latika.
Youngest Latika: And then what? Can we stop begging?
Youngest Jamal: Begging? Are you kidding? We'll live in a big house on Harbour Road. You, me and Salim, the three musketeers.
Youngest Latika: Harbour Road? Really?
Youngest Jamal: Yes, in the moonlight. You and me. You'll dance with me won't you?
[dances]
Youngest Latika: [laughs] I hope you sing better than you dance.
Youngest Jamal: Since when is there a time limit on a crap?
Prem Kumar: The chaiwalah has done it again!
[after he admitted to his show's director that he tried to cheat out Jamal with a wrong answer on a question, after getting Jamal arrested]
Prem Kumar: What does it matter? It's my show. It's... MY FUCKING SHOW!