London, Dec 22 : Director Danny Boyle wouldn''t have imagined that the experience of shooting for ''Slumdog Millionaire'' in Mumbai would entirely change his opinion about India, and revamp his style of working.

Looking at the noisy, colourful, fantastically energetic crowd and extremes of emotions, Boyle decided that the only way to do justice to a story set in Mumbai was to make it operatic.

"It''s not the way I''ve ever worked before," the Telegraph quoted him as saying

"Mumbai is such a city of extremes. Obviously, there are very rich and very poor people almost literally rubbing shoulders.

"There seem to be crowds of people coming at you all the time. It''s noisy, colourful, fantastically energetic, and it changes from day to day."

"But, to do justice to a place like Mumbai, it seemed like the only way," he added.

Adapted from a novel Q&A by Indian writer Vikas Swarup, the film tracks the story of an 18-year-old orphan boy from Mumbai''s slums who stands to win a fortune when he reaches the final round of the Indian version of TV''s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

"It''s a story of big emotions in a big city. And I decided to go in there with a small (British) crew of about 10, and make ourselves wholly dependent on the local crew. You''ve got to go in there with no attitude of superiority," Boyle said.

"With most Indian films, the sound is dubbed, but I insisted we needed live sound, because the sound of (the city) is remarkable. So we hired one of only two sound recordists in the city who specialises in live sound.

"We shot it semi-documentary style, out on the streets, in the crowds. You can see in the film some people passing by are looking at the camera. But you go with it.

"And that decision also meant we''d set up to shoot somewhere, and within minutes we''d have 300 people stopping to stare - and stay around all day," he added.

Boyle said that he became addicted to that style of filmmaking and continued shooting after his British crew had come to the end of their contracts and flown home.

"I kept shooting little bits and pieces on my own. You worry all the time that you haven''t caught a scene, because in those chaotic circumstances everything seems so elusive," he recalled.

"Finally, our producer Christian Colson closed down the film''s bank account and left India, so I had to stop," he added.

Meanwhile, the film has already bagged top honour at the British Independent Film Awards, and has garnered two nominations Screen Guild Awards.

It is now being tipped as a frontrunner for an Oscar. (ANI)