INDIA has the ability to charm foreigners. No wonder Danny Boyle, the 49-year-old Irishman who directed Slumdog Millionaire, used the word extraordinary at least five times during a recent interview with tabla! about the movie.
"It was an extraordinary challenge. Nothing prepares you for India," he said.
Slumdog Millionaire, in case you've been camping in a cave for the last month, is about a young man from the Mumbai slums who wins Rs20 million on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. It has garnered 10 Oscar nominations, won four Golden Globes and seven Baftas including a slew of directing prizes for Boyle.
The Lancashire-born director of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later fame even has a shelf - made for him by a journalist - on which he will keep his increasing stash of awards.
Boyle said shooting the film in Mumbai was a culture shock for him. He had to give up being a "control freak" on the set, thanks to challenges like film permits not showing up on time and locations being changed overnight.
He recalled the time when he had to change tack for a crucial scene under a highway at the last minute when a 3.7m-high, 100m-long wall was built overnight through the middle of the location.
"Everything was multiplied by 10 times. Everything is extreme. It was so vivid, so bright, that you have to keep up. It was extraordinary being in the maximum city," he said.
There's that word again. It comes as no surprise then that Boyle would like to return to India... to recreate, yes, that extraordinary experience.
"This is going to be an Asian century and India is going to one of its leaders," he said.
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