Slumdog Millionaire

The teen sensation and the Oscar winner will go head-to-head this year at the MTV Movie Awards. Twilight and Slumdog Millionaire topped the nominations list today, with Twilight nabbing seven nominations and Slumdog landing six. Each is nominated for Best Movie, along with The Dark Knight, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, and Iron Man.

Voting is now open for all of the categories, which include some new awards this year (Best WTF Moment among them). The voting for Best Movie will stay open throughout the show itself, which airs May 31 and will be hosted by Andy Samberg. To check out all of the nominations, just read more

The father of Slumdog Millionaire star Rubina Ali has denied putting his daughter up for adoption (or, as the rest of the world says, "sale") to the BBC.

Over the weekend, UK paper News of the World reported he was asking £200,000 (nearly $300,000) for his 9-year-old daughter. I'd like to say it wasn't as sinister as it sounds, but, basically, it was.

Allegedly, it started innocently enough. A Middle Eastern family moved by Rubina's story offered to adopt her, you know, like Madonna does (their words). While this was pretty presumptuous, at least it was well-intentioned: they wanted her to escape the Mumbai ghetto. But the offer sowed an idea into her father's head, and now he's looking to reap bigger rewards.

News of the World reporters contacted Rubina's uncle, telling him they worked for a wealthy sheik in Dubai. (He speaks English on her father's behalf and agreed to meet them.) While her uncle said they were concerned — or "interested" — in the girl's future, he did not ask for the sheik's name, intentions, or background.

"We can discuss everything about this deal when we meet," he said. "There's a lot of interest in Rubina, she's become very famous."

Source

The makers of Slumdog Millionaire have set up a fund of almost $1 million to support child poverty programs in Mumbai, India. Those behind the Oscar-winning film, which made more than $400 million worldwide, have been accused of exploiting the people who live in Mumbai's slums for their own gain.

While the child actors from the movie got to travel to Hollywood for the Oscars, neighbors cheered them on in their hometown slums. Those images revealed overwhelming joy, but also the poverty that would await the adorable stars when the magic was over.

Aware of this heartbreaking reality, the filmmakers set up private trust funds and bought new homes for Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, the two child actors who lived in the slums.

But two happy endings weren't enough for those who considered the film poverty porn, or a film that exploits the misery of millions for the enjoyment of a privileged audience. To see what some Mumbai residents thought about all this, read more

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to my selections below you can take home Will Smith's drama Seven Pounds.

Slumdog Millionaire
Now that I've seen the movie and read the book I'm excited to go back and watch the movie again! Can you tell I'm into this flick? When this year's Oscar winner for Best Picture hit theaters, it began an epic journey into the hearts and minds of moviegoers around the globe, and I have a feeling many people will end up owning it on DVD.

The story follows an 18-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, Jamal (Dev Patel), who is accused of cheating as a contestant on India's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. To prove his innocence he reflects back on his amazing life in director Danny Boyle's intense and inspiring movie.

Special features include "Slumdog Dreams: Danny Boyle and the Making of Slumdog Millionaire," deleted scenes, and commentary by Danny Boyle and Dev Patel.

Two more up next so read more

Welcome back, Buzz Book Club readers! I don't know about you, but I'm glad I read the book that inspired Slumdog Millionaire, as I found the book to be thought-provoking as well as entertaining. Let's chat about our final thoughts on it in just a sec.

Here's a recap of how the Book Club goes: Every week I'll suggest chapters to complete by the next post (which, in this case, went up every Friday in March). In these weekly Book Club posts, I'll posit a few questions to prompt discussion in the comments section.

Don't forget to check back next week for my April Buzz Book Club selection!

To discuss last week's section of Slumdog Millionaire, in which we read from "10,000,000 Rupees — Tragedy Queen" to the end of the book, read more

Welcome back, Buzz Book Club readers! I think I've nearly brushed aside comparisons to the movie Slumdog Millionaire while reading this book because the two have less and less in common as I read on. I am still thoroughly engrossed in the book, though. How about you?

Here's a recap of how the Book Club goes: Every week I'll suggest chapters to complete by the next post (which, in this case, will go up every Friday in March). In these weekly Book Club posts, I'll posit a few questions to prompt discussion in the comments section.

Of course, you are always welcome to read beyond the weekly chapters, but please don't spoil anything in the comments! After the jump you'll find some questions that struck me as I read this section.

The next section: Read from "10,000,000 Rupees — Tragedy Queen" to the end of the book. We'll chat about the conclusion a week from today, March 27.

To discuss last week's section of Slumdog Millionaire, in which we read from "50,000 Rupees — How to Speak Australian" through "1,000,000 Rupees — License to Kill," read more

Welcome back, Buzz Book Club readers! I really enjoyed the movie Slumdog Millionaire, and thought I'd use this month's book club to explore the book on which it's based, originally titled Q&A. Already the two are pretty different, and we'll discuss how they match up so far after the jump.

First, here's a recap of how the Book Club goes: Every week I'll suggest chapters to complete by the next post (which, in this case, will go up every Friday in March). In these weekly Book Club posts, I'll posit a few questions to prompt discussion in the comments section.

Of course, you are always welcome to read beyond the weekly chapters, but please don't spoil anything in the comments! After the jump you'll find some questions that struck me as I read this section.

The next section: Read from "50,000 Rupees — How to Speak Australian" through "1,000,000 Rupees — License to Kill" (stop before "10,000,000 Rupees — Tragedy Queen"). We'll chat about this section a week from today, March 20.

To discuss the first section of Slumdog Millionaire, in which we read from the prologue through the chapter titled "10,000 Rupees — A Thought for the Crippled," read more