I just finished watching “Slumdog Millionaire.” I was wondering on the TV shows in India, do they actually speak English like they do “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” in the movie? Or was them speaking English something just done for the benefit of western audiences?
The ability to speak English is quite widespread in India. Even in the smaller towns I visited, there was never a problem communicating in English.
There are probably more than 50 individual languages spoken throughout the country. The British unified the country in some sense by making English a common language among the various groups that live in India.
Its not uncommon at all to see two Indians speaking English to each other, especially in the big cities. Its also an “upper class” thing to speak English.
English is taught at a very young age in schools and English seem to be quite common on TV.
I think Mangosteen’s got it. I have to say, though, that my friend and I chortled when the smarmy host of the TV show kept sounding like he was saying, “Who wants to be a milliner?”
Uh, no, thanks. I’ll just take the money. I don’t want to learn how to make hats… 
The original “Who wants to be a millionaire?” broadcast in India, was broadcast in a mixture of Hindi and English. The questions on the screen were always printed in English. “Is that your final answer?” became a catch phrase.
In Japan the host of the local version of “Millionaire” would say “FINAL ANSWER?” in English. The rest of the show was in Japanese, though.
Interesting fact-
The largest circulation English language newspaper in the world by far is “The Times of India”.
I did kind of wonder about the use of English in Slumdog Millionaire—not about the show so much, but particularly the police interrogation. I was aware that most Indians speak English, but it seems odd that nearly all of the adult dialog took place in that language. Is that accurate?
If the police officers and our hero didn’t speak the same first language, English might have been a logical lingua franca.
Actually in Bombay, if they didn’t speak the same first language, it’s likelier they would default to Hindi. It’s different in southern India, though, where the default would indeed be English.
As to the OP, yeah, a large percentage of India speaks English. It’s often a second or third language for people. Fluency varies widely, of course, but most urban people at least have enough English to get by. After-effects of the British Raj and its emphasis on education. And there’s buttloads of people like me these days for whom English is the first language.
I still haven’t watched Slumdog. Want to, but never get around to it. 