“The Slum Dog Millionaire” which was highly acclaimed at last month’s Toronto Film Festival was the last movie to mark the ongoing The Times BFI London Film Festival. The film which is based on an Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup's award winning novel Q & A, received huge appreciation from the international film fraternity present there.

The movie stars the famous Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor along with Brit-Asian actor Dev Patel (the Channel 4’s Skins fame). While Anil plays the role of a Quiz master of India’s TV show ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’, Patel is Jamal Malik an 18 year-old orphan who is on the brink of winning the prestigious 20 million rupees. Jamal who hails from slums in Mumbai is held by the Police who are under the pretext that the boy has cheated, as there is no way as to how a slum boy can be so intelligent.

Stars of the movie Anil Kapoor, Dev Patel, Freida Pinto and director Danny Boyle were present at the UK premiere. Anil who was excited about the film’s good response said, “The way in which Anthony and Danny look at India… It’s just got that kind of feeling that the soil of India will be in there. You’ll be able to smell India in Slumdog Millionaire, which I feel none of the films that have been made by foreign filmmakers have really been able to capture before.”

The movie which is shot at Mumbai develops at an interesting pace keeping the audience hooked to its seat. The flashback incidents of Jamal’s life are indeed a revelation. The London news daily, Telegraph was quoted as saying, “The London Film Festival could hardly have ended in more rousing style.”

The movie is directed by Danny Boyle (of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later fame) and is written by Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty) while the film is produced by Celador’s Christian Colson and co-developed and co-financed by Film4 along with UK production company Celador Films. The film will hit Britain’s theatres on 9th January.