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“ | God is great! | „ |
~ Salim's catchphrase and most famous quote; also his last words. |
“ | Sorry Maman I can't take that risk... | „ |
~ Salim before killing Maman. |
“ | After everything that I've done I hope you can forgive me... | „ |
~ Salim to Latika before letting her go free. |
Salim K. Malik is the main antagonist of Danny Boyle's 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire. He is the older brother of Jamal Malik who overtime falls down a dark path of villainy after the many mishaps that he and his brother face following their mother's death.
He was portrayed by Madhur Mittal as a young adult, Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala as a teenager and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail as a child.
Biography[]
Childhood[]
As a child, Salim was the leader of he and Jamal's attempts to swindle their peers out of money but also would make him take part in games with the other children. The two regularly got into trouble and Salim would often times bully Jamal for laughs such as when he locked him in a toilet when his hero Amitabh Bachchan visited their town forcing Jamal to jump into a pile of faeces to get a chance of meeting him. The two were also behind on school work although did enjoy their class novel The Three Musketeers with the two jokingly seeing themselves as Athos and Porthos but didn't know the name of the third member of the trio.
Soon however the two's childhood took a turn for the worse as during the Bombay riots the two brothers are forced to run away from the attack, while their mother is unfortunately killed. A young girl named Latika also loses her mother in the incident and although reluctant at first, Jamal apparently manages to convince Salim into letting her stay with them. The three are then found by Maman a young man who runs an orphanage in a seemingly benevolent manner, however he is later revealed to be keeping the children simply for the means of making money by using the "cute ones" as beggars. Jamal, Salim and Latika go with this idea for a while however after seeing Maman going as far as to blinding a young boy to make him a more successful beggar Salim takes Jamal and runs away, boarding a train. Although Latika tries to keep up with them Salim purposefully lets go of her hand out of supposed payback for putting chillies in his bedsheets a few nights prior.
Jamal is furious with Salim for this however the latter manages to convince his brother that she'll be fine, Jamal never stopped thinking about Latika however.
Adolescence[]
During their teenage years Salim and Jamal mainly sustained themselves by stowing away on trains and stealing food from other passengers. However when they found themselves at the Taj Mahal they decide to settle down for a while, and steal shoes from visitors entering the mausoleum. Jamal manages to find them another way of making money howeverm when two German tourists mistake him for a tour guide and the brothers use this to their advantage-with Jamal giving customers nonsense tours and getting paid for it while Salim goes to steal from said customers with a group of other youths.
After a while Jamal decides to go back to Mumbai much to Salim's annoyance, with Jamal doing so mainly to find Latika. The brothers eventually manage to track her down and find out she has been forced into child prostitution by Maman, they manage to succeed in freeing her when Salim confronts his former master at gunpoint before murdering him. The trio take refuge at a hotel and Salim sneaks out to find Javed who is impressed with the young man's work and tells him he'll secure him a job and protection from the remainder of Maman's gang if he brings him Latika. Without hesitation Salim heads back to the hotel and demands Latika to come with him, leading a furious Jamal to finally confront his brother before being kicked out of the room by him out of threat of being shot.
Adulthood[]
Years later Salim has became one of Javed's most trusted Lieutenant and is reunited by Jamal after he gets in contact from him due to his call centre internship. The two track each other down and although Salim is pleased to see his brother the former isn't so welcoming and punches him in the face. Salim tries to explain himself but to no avail and eventually explains everything that's been going on to Jamal before telling him to meet him back at his new house and to forget about Latika. It is also revealed that Salim has become religious as he acknowledges that his criminal lifestyle is wrong and often begs god for forgiveness for all the dirty works he did as a gangster.
Jamal ignores Salim however and finds Latika as Javed's trophy wife by posing as a new chef for Javed, the latter however immediately fires him after being given a sandwich which he deemed of poor quality. Before having to leave though Jamal did leave Latika a meeting time and location at the VT train station. When Latika manages to show up however she is almost immediately caught and taken away by Salim and his goons, one of which slashes her cheek open leaving a painful scar as a warning to Jamal.
Salim takes them to Javed's safe house, meanwhile Jamal becomes a contestant on the Indian version of the TV series Who Wants to be a Millionaire? managing to get every single question right. When he's called back for a second night, now being at ₹10,000 000 and being close to winning 20, Salim looks on impressed as her brother, admiring the fact that he'll never give up, he then has a change of heart, giving Latika his keys and mobile phone before telling her to run away. She does so gratefully and Salim locks himself in the bathroom, laying in the bathtub and filling it with piles of cash in preparation for the inevitable and wanting to die in wealth. During the show Jamal uses his "phone a friend" lifeline for a question asking the name of the "third musketeer" which neither Jamal or Salim knew and calls Salim's mobile only to be met with Latika's voice, Javed hears this and rushes his way to Salim in the bathroom who promptly shoots him in the chest when he opens the door, Salim himself is then murdered by several of Javed's crew and dies himself happily.
Although Salim died his death wasn't in vain as Jamal managed to win the show and was reunited with Latika of whom he now shares a happy life with.
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Salim Malik | Maman | Prem Kumar | Javed |