Summary
As the policeman dismisses him, Jamal tells him that he went on the game show because he thought Latika would be watching.
We see Latika watching a news story about Jamal's victory on the game show. She sits near Salim as Javed paces around the room menacingly, before changing the channel and instructing one of the girls there to dance. Latika wanders out of the room as a party breaks out and Salim watches her go.
When Javed receives a call that takes him out of the room, Salim goes to Latika, who is watching the news on another television. He gives her keys to his car and tells her to escape while she can, but Latika is worried that Javed will kill Salim for helping her escape. "I'll take care of him," Salim says, opening the door and telling Latika to go. He gives her his phone and asks her for her forgiveness. Crying, Latika leaves.
Jamal goes to the show to answer the final question. The scene shifts between him traveling to the studio on the highway and Latika driving through traffic to escape Javed's clutches. When Jamal's car stops near a bunch of people, they recognize him and send him blessings to "win it all." We see crowds of people gathering around televisions to watch Jamal answer the final question.
As the show begins, Jamal takes his seat to answer the final question. Meanwhile, Latika abandons her car to go find a television. The final question asks for the name of the third Musketeer in the Alexandre Dumas novel The Three Musketeers. We see flashbacks of Jamal in school looking at the book, then him first meeting Latika and telling Salim that she could be "the third musketeer." Jamal does not know the answer, but instead of giving up now, he opts to phone a friend.
He calls Salim's phone, but Salim does not pick up, as he gave the phone to Latika. Suddenly, Latika realizes that the phone is in the car, and runs to answer it. Latika answers it, gasping for breath from her run, in the final moments just before they are about to hang up the call. Javed, who has the show on in his house, realizes that Latika is missing from hearing her voice on the phone and yells to Salim, who is filling a bathtub with money.
Jamal reads the question to Latika over the phone before asking her if she is safe. She tells him she is, but that she doesn't know the answer to the question. The call is disconnected, and Jamal guesses an answer. Meanwhile, Javed and his thugs bang on the door of the bathroom, calling to Salim. Salim climbs in the bathtub filled with money holding a revolver, and kills Javed, before being shot himself by Javed's men, just as Jamal wins it all on the game show.
"God is great," says Salim as he dies. The scene shifts to the studio, as confetti falls from the ceiling and Jamal smiles calmly at the fanfare of his victory.
We see Latika and Jamal being reunited, interspersed with flashbacks of Jamal's difficult life—his mother dying, the blind beggar boy, Salim as a child. Jamal walks to Latika and says, "I knew you'd be watching," to which she replies, "I thought we'd meet again only in death." He kisses a scar on her face from where Salim cut her. We see the moment of their near-reunion in flashback as he does. "This is our destiny," he says.
The final moments of the film are a Bollywood-inspired dance, with Jamal and Latika at the front of a group of dancers.
Analysis
While it seemed like Salim had fully gone over to the dark side, when he sees the love that Latika still feels for Jamal as she watches him win on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, he decides to sacrifice himself for his brother. An innocent boy turned into a reckless killer, Salim reconnects with his more vulnerable side, urging Latika to make a run for it and offering to take the fall. Salim has spent much of the film being selfish, but this selfless act becomes his redemption for the pain and suffering he has caused.
The tension of the end of the film is immense, as Latika escapes from her violent slum lord and Jamal must answer the pivotal question in the all-or-nothing game show. For a film that seemed to reveal so much about the ending in the first five minutes, the way that different events weave together forms a singularly suspenseful plot. Tensions rise, and while the viewer might suspect that Jamal's fate is positive, it is impossible to know how his fate will unfold. The screenplay keeps the viewer guessing up until the final moments.
Every event in the final moments of the film is suspenseful. On the final question, Jamal calls Salim, not knowing the answer, and it seems like he is not going to pick up his phone. Just as the call almost ends, Latika answers, and it seems as though Jamal is going to win again. However, Latika does not know the answer either, and all that transpires in the call is Jamal learning she is safe. At the same time, we see Javed, the evil crime boss, learning that Latika is missing.
The ending shifts between events that are suspenseful because they are pivotal to the game show Jamal is playing and events that are pivotal to the plot of Jamal's life. He must weigh the importance of the game show against the importance of his love for Latika, or his faith in his brother, Salim. When he is reconnected with Latika over the phone, his eyes light up and he is emboldened to make a complete guess on the question being posed to him. With Latika safe, nothing is as important, not even a record-breaking jackpot.
Predictably enough, risking it all pays off, and Jamal's pure-heartedness, the fact that he is on a hero's journey, that his destiny is "written," leads him not only to win the game, but to reunite with Latika once and for all. The reunion between the two of them, after all the pain of their lives, is the greatest reward of the show. The final moments of the film reflect the power of destiny, a major theme in the film, suggesting that Jamal and Latika's fates unfold according to an unseen benevolent power.
