Goofs

When Jamal is at the front gate of Javed's house and is telling the guard that he is the new dishwasher, his shirt changes from a dark patterned long-sleeved button-up shirt to a lighter blue short-sleeved button-up shirt. When Jamal enters the house, he is wearing the long-sleeved shirt again.

Jamal is shuttled directly to the studio from the police station where he was beaten and tortured. His swollen eye clears up entirely by the time he gets to the show.

When Jamal asks Latika to leave with him from the gangster's home, she has a visible bruise under her left eye that appears and disappears between shots.

While in the police station Jamal drinks down a glass of Chai and sets it on the table in front of him. In the following shot the glass is full again.

When Salim and Jamal find Latika in the dance studio she is seen without and then with a nose ring.

The "Millionaire" format is sold worldwide with the same rules, with small variations, like the amount of the final prize to adjust for the currency value. One rule is the presence of the two milestone - or "parachute" - questions (#5 and #10), to prevent the contestants' prize from falling further if they answer wrong. Yet the host keeps mentioning that if Jamal answers wrong he will "lose everything" or "get nothing".

In the movie, the correct answer to the question of who wrote the song "Darshan Do Ghanshyam Naath" is shown as 16th century poet "Kavi Surdas". However in reality, this song is written by Gopal Singh Nepali for the movie Narsi Bhagat (1957). This song is also credited as traditional and originally written by 15th century poet Narsinh Mehta, whose life that film is based on. (Many, including the film, mistakenly attribute it to the 16th-century poet Surdas due to the fact that Surdas was blind and the song is a prayer asking God to "appear" before him, for his "eyes thirst for Your sight".)

When Jamal explains the answer for "truth alone triumphs" question, Jamal asks the inspector for the price of Pani Puri, but the video shown is that of Dahi Puri.

When Jamal took the American couple for a tour, their Mercedes was stripped. This could not have happened in real life. In India the driver/chauffeur would stay with the car and not leave it parked unattended in an unfamiliar place, especially with an expensive car like that.

When the policeman handcuffs Jamal to the chair, he uses handcuffs that click shut. In India Darby handcuffs are used.

In one scene, when teenage Salim and Jamal are at the Taj Mahal, there is an external shot where a passing guard looks at the camera and says, "Stop filming. Stop filming." This was included purposely by director Danny Boyle for the sake of realism.

Both Jamal and Salim speak fluent English when they're teenagers. The movie was originally supposed to all be in English, yet the actors that played young Jamal and young Salim had some trouble with speaking English. Director Danny Boyle asked producers to have the beginning in Hindi, and colored the subtitles to make them more appealing. From the storyline, Jamal and Salim probably learned from tourists.

The original TV show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" is recorded in studio some days before the actual broadcast. The show that we see in the film is broadcast live, which raises the incongruence that the person from home can easily see the question on TV, having plenty of time to come up with an answer before receiving the actual call. This explains the need to have the questions reread on the phone, and the credibility of the time limit. Moreover, the call itself is never directed to a mobile number, to prevent connection troubles, and for the same reason it's never issued directly when the contestant asks for it; the call is first made in the very moment the contestant begins his round and it's then kept live (but soundless) until the contestant calls for the hotline. As a side fact, after the hotline has been used the contact is still kept, so the contestant's people can hear live what happens from then on. However, this kind of show may have a 10-15-minute time delay.

Jamal is uneducated and yet he can read and write. We see this in his job at the telemarketing firm. He also mentions that he can read while on the Millionaire show. However, it isn't unreasonable to assume that they attended school and learned to read and write before their mother was killed. Indeed, Jamal says that he can read when asked about "The Three Musketeers".

The young Salim and Jamal are shown to attend a primary municipality school in Mumbai. These schools do not have "The Three Musketeers" in syllabus. However, this could have been a school that was built in the slums by an external organization such as a charity.

When older Jamal punches older Salim, you can hear Dev Patel's British accent come out when he was yelling at him. This also happens when Jamal and the host are in the bathroom.

When Jamal and Salim secretly watch a short section of an outdoor opera, the film is running backwards for a few seconds. The fire and smoke are going the wrong way.

(at around 6 mins) The kids are being chased away from the airport control tower. In the very next shot, they are running towards the control tower.

At the end of movie where Latika is shown on the platform of the CST terminus/ station in Mumbai, she is briefly shown in full sunlight - the station is fully covered with a roof with only very limited chance of sunlight through small openings and colored windows.

In the scene where Salim and Jamal are working the crowds at the Taj Mahal in 2002, Jamal has a 2006 $10 bill in his hand.

The scene where young Jamal tries to steal food, hanging upside down on the train shows a window which had removable bars (it's like a fire escape). These kind of bars were not installed until after the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Although the events of the movie are set in the summer of 2006, the cricket match being played at Javed's house between India and South Africa was played in 2007.

The trains on which Jamal and Salim escape and live for many days have compartments painted in blue. The blue color compartments came into existence at a later date. The compartments were painted red back then.

At the end of the last song and dance sequence on the railway platform, hoardings for shows on NDTV Imagine (and entertainment TV channel) are prominent. NDTV Imagine launched in 2008 and the promotion could not have began in 2006 - the year where the story of the film happens in.

In the scene where Javed is partying with his friends and Latika is held captive, the audio playing in the background is from the movie Don (2006), whereas the visual shown on TV is from the movie Yuva (2004).

When Salim and Jamal go to rescue Latika, he pulls out his gun and the hammer can be heard being cocked, but when he points the gun at the gang member, the hammer is not cocked.

The cricket match shown between India and South Africa was played in Belfast, whereas the commentator says that it's being played in the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

When the policeman handcuffs Jamal to the chair, he uses handcuffs that click shut. In India, Darby handcuffs are used.

When the American couple gives money to a freshly-beaten Jamal, the husband is wearing his wedding ring in the European fashion, on his right hand, rather than the left.

When Salim fills the bathtub with money, where does he get the money? He doesn't have it all tucked into his clothing, and there is far too much cash to conceal it.

However, just because something isn't shown it doesn't make it a plot hole. He obviously got the money from wherever it was on the house and took it into the bathroom. It's just like, at one point in the film he produces gun but it isn't explained where he got it from. He simply acquired it off camera.

One of the reporters talking about Jamal after his arrest asks "Will he be back to win another 20 million rupees?" This is incorrect however, as he had only won 10 million rupees and 20 million was the final prize. So she could have either meant "Will he be back to win another 10 million rupees?" or "Will he win 20 million rupees?"

The host used the expression "cell phone", which is mostly used in North America, while India and most of the Commonwealth world uses "mobile phone".