I have a new found interest in Bollywood movies (I wonder why??) especially since seeing Dostana quite recently – everyone should really see this movie, it is very good.

Watch out for this film, advance screenings this weekend, so should be in cinemas shortly.

Honest fairytale delivers

Slumdog Millionaire (MA15+)

Director: Danny BoyleStarring: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan and Madhur Mittal and Freida PintoScreening: Advance screenings at selected cinemas this weekend

DANNY Boyle (Trainspotting) opts for a lightly spiced change of pace with this rags-to-riches story about a penniless street orphan who becomes a contestant on the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?While the 52-year-old director is not an obvious choice to bring the Bollywood inspired fairytale to the big screen, he turns out to be a remarkably good fit.Boyle confidently mines the feelgood opportunities of Simon Beaufoy’s screenplay, adapted from Vikas Swarup’s novel, without letting the film collapse into soppiness or sentimentality.If Ang Lee can offer a clear-eyed perspective on Jane Austen’s England in Sense And Sensibility, and Sam Mendes can so acutely satirise the American dream in American Beauty, there’s no reason why a Mancunian can’t bring a fresh, outsider’s eye to the teaming back alleyways of Mumbai.When the film opens,18-year-old Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is just one question away from winning 20 million rupees. No one is more surprised than him.The show’s host, Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor), who has himself clawed his way up from the streets, takes Jamal’s success almost as a personal slight.In his TV studio, there’s only room for one overnight success story. Kumar refuses to believe a lowly tea boy could do so well by any legitimate means.When the show breaks for the night, he organises for Jamal to be detained and interrogated.Over the next 24 hours, the “truth” is beaten out of the youth by the no-nonsense inspector of police (Irfan Khan), provoking a series of colourful flashbacks that neatly correlate to each of his game show answers.Growing up in the slums of Mumbai, Jamal and his brother Salim become orphans when their mother is killed in a violent religious uprising.

Despite his hand-to-mouth existence, the young nipper is blessed with an irrepressible spirit, embodied by his decision to swim through a sea of poo to secure the autograph of his Bollywood hero.His stint as an unofficial tour guide for unsuspecting tourists visiting the Taj Mahal is a shining example of his quick entrepreneurial nature.What Jamal lacks in a conventional school education, he makes up for with street smarts.At the heart of any self-respecting fairytale, of course, is a thwarted romance.

Jamal’s fidelity to Latika (Freida Pinto), another street kid, is unswerving – even when they are separated for many years. His loyalty also manages to transcend the rather significant obstacle of her eventual marriage to a dangerous gangster.

Using a mix of stylistic conventions, Slum dog Millionaire deftly interweaves an ancient story of abject poverty with a more contemporary narrative acknowledging India’s rapid-growth economy, and the burgeoning middle class it has spawned.Boyle’s film was last week named Best Picture by the US National Board of Review, an indicator of its strong Oscar chances.After being voted People’s Choice at the Toronto Film Festival, it is being mentioned in the same breath as other breakthrough independent films such as Juno and Little Miss Sunshine.Vicky Roach

The star of Slumdog Millionaire, Dev Patel, also stared in the English TV Series, SKINS. This a series depicting a groups of teenage friends as they make their way in life after high school and discover their sexuality. Dev, in particular, has some interesting (to say the least) sexual encounters in Skins.