India claims 'Slumdog Millionaire' as its own

AFP: 'Slumdog Millionaire' director coy about Oscar success

MUMBAI (AFP) — "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle said Tuesday he is refusing to contemplate Oscar success, despite a string of accolades, as he returned to Mumbai for the film's Indian premiere.

"The most important thing for us this week is absolutely the opening here. Big time. That's serious," he told a news conference in the city alongside the hit movie's cast.

The rags-to-riches love story about a Mumbai slum dweller has been tipped for Academy Awards success after scooping four US Golden Globes earlier this month, including a best director award for Boyle.

The low-budget movie, made with virtual unknowns in the lead roles, has taken 40 million dollars at the US box office and more than six million pounds (8.4 million dollars) in Britain, its producer Christian Colson said.

It premieres in Mumbai Thursday and Indian audiences get the chance to see the film from Friday, both in the original English and in Hindi as "Slumdog Crorepati".

Boyle, whose credits include "Shallow Grave", "Trainspotting" and "28 Days Later", said he felt "incredibly blessed" by how the film has been received across the world, including the host of awards it has won.

"You can't expect anything really. You should always expect to get knocked down by a bus tomorrow morning, which is the only healthy thing to feel about success. It could all end at a moment's notice," he added.

"We have just been very fortunate to be where we are and... I never thought we would be here."

India has claimed "Slumdog Millionaire" as its own after the film's Golden Globes success and is eagerly awaiting next month's Oscars, despite it being directed, written and produced by a group of Britons and a British studio.

The cast, co-director Loveleen Tandan, acclaimed music director A.R. Rahman and the Vikas Swarup's novel "Q and A" on which the film is based are all Indian, as is the location -- Mumbai's sprawling Dharavi shantytown.

There is also a part-Hindi dialogue, Bollywood singing and dancing and some of the Indian film industry's biggest stars, Anil Kapoor and Irfan Khan.

"There's probably nowhere more important than releasing the film in Mumbai and this extraordinary city," Boyle told reporters.

But he brushed aside apparent criticism of the film's subject matter from Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, who wrote on his personal website recently that dire poverty exists in every culture, not just in India.

The comments were interpreted by the Indian media as a slight on Western directors and their perceptions of the country, although Bachchan has denied he was being critical of Boyle's success.

Boyle said he and screenplay writer Simon Beaufoy wanted to include "as much of the city as possible that we saw and found. And there are some tough things and there are some extraordinary things", he said.

He accepted that his vision of India's "Maximum City" was not perfect but he hoped audiences would recognise the "breathtaking resilience" and lust for life of the Mumbaikars depicted in the film, despite their circumstances.

"Everybody has the privilege of saying whatever they want about it (the film). I think it's part of my job to accept criticism," he added.

Slumdog Millionaire