Mumbai is the real star of 'Slumdog Millionaire': Danny Boyle

New Delhi, Jan 21 (PTI) "Slumdog Millionaire" may have
received rave reviews worldwide even before its India release
this Friday but its director Danny Boyle feels the film's real
star is Mumbai and hopes to make a real dark thriller on the
"extraordinary city".

"It is a fantastic story with a simple idea and it is
set in this extraordinary city which has many extremes. For
me, the star of the film is not the actors, the script or the
direction. For me the real star of this film is Mumbai," Boyle
told reporters here.

"We have tried to include various aspects of Mumbai
but I must admit that it is not the perfect picture of Mumbai.
It is impossible to include everything of such a great city in
any film," the British director says.

He now looks forward to return to Mumbai once again
and make a thriller.

"I want to return to this great city and want to make
a real dark thriller in Mumbai and hope some of the Indian
actors are going to help me in it," he says.

According to Boyle, he wanted to reinforce the realism
that the West has lost amid the superhero type of films and at
the same time tell a story which talked about hope and had a
feel of fairy tale.

"I am a Britisher who makes films based on realism and
Mumbai is an extreme city. And the film talks about a
slumdweller so what I do, I go to the slums and research about
it.

"For me it is a combination of a fairytale with
realism. We in West have lost touch with realism. We are
making those superhero kind of films with stupid costumes.
With this film I have tried to reinforce realism because it is
the right time to do that," says Boyle, known for films like
"The Beach" and "Trainspotting".

"Slumdog Millionaire" has emerged as a strong
favourite at global award circuits bagging four Golden Globes
for Best Director, Best Music Score, Best Film and Best
Scriptwriter. It has also been nominated for 11 BAFTAs.

Asked about the film's prospects at the Oscars, Boyle
was cautious in his reply saying "You have to be very careful.
People have shown extraordinary affection to the film. It has
been an incredible experience but we can't expect anything and
I think you should earn everything."

Bollywood 'badshah' Shah Rukh Khan was the original
choice for Anil Kapoor's character but he declined to act.

Says Boyle, "He (Shah Rukh) was very gracious about
it. I think India has some of the greatest actors in the world
but the problem is that they are extremely busy. So, it is
very difficult to get them. I heard that Anil was available
and I think he has been great for the film."

The film has won many hearts abroad despite half of
the film being in subtitles.

"The script of the film was originally in English and
we had to shoot it in English but Loveleen Tandon (co-
director) told us that it would be fake to make seven-year-old
slum children speak in Inglish. We called up our producers and
they thought we were insane to include Hindi.

"But I am happy that one third of the film is in Hindi
and kids have done great job. It has brought certain realism
to the story of the film," Boyle says.