Slumdog Millionaire is set in Mumbai and is the heart-warming tale of an impoverished Indian teenager who reaches the final rounds of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. It will now be favourite to repeat its Golden Globe success on Baftas night.
The film won four gongs including best picture at the at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s award ceremony last weekend, with British director Danny Boyle taking best director and 18-year star Dev Patel named best young actor.
Based on the novel Q&A by former Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup, the film has been acclaimed by critics and audiences in Britain and the US, and it has been hotly tipped for Oscar glory.
Excitement is also growing on the Indian subcontinent ahead of its Jan 23 release, with composer AR Rahman’s Golden Globe for best musical score seen as rare recognition for Indian talent from Hollywood.
Set in Mumbai, the film tells the story of a Jamal, an uneducated boy from the city slums who finds the solutions to the television quiz show’s questions by recalling events from his poverty-stricken past.
Despite its location and language – a third of the film is in Hindi – critics have remarked on Slumdog Millionaire’s strikingly British feel.
In addition to the involvement of Boyle, most famous for his Scottish junkie film Trainspotting, and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog was produced by Film 4, the film-production wing of Channel Four, and Celador, the British company that created Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Patel, from Harrow, west London, whose break came with the Channel Four youth drama Skins, has been mentioned as a possible contender for best actor at the Academy Awards, but says that rising fame hasn’t affected his home life. “My mum is still nagging me to make my bed. My sister and I annoy each other. That’s what keeps me grounded,” he said.
Re: BAFTA Nominations
Double Golden Globe winner Kate Winslet has two nominations for best actress at the British Academy Film Awards.
The 33-year-old star, a previous Bafta winner for Sense and Sensibility, has been nominated for her performances in Revolutionary Road and The Reader.
Slumdog Millionaire is also up for several prizes, including best film, best British film and best director.
Jonathan Ross will host this year's ceremony, to be held at the Royal Opera House in London on 8 February.
The main nominations were announced by The Duchess star Hayley Atwell and Bond girl Gemma Arterton at a morning ceremony at Bafta's London headquarters.
This is the second time Winslet has received two best actress Bafta nods in the same year, having been shortlisted in 2005 for Finding Neverland and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
The actress was also nominated in 2002 for Iris and in 2007 for Little Children.
Surprise
Winslet's competition, besides herself, includes fellow Briton Kristin Scott Thomas - nominated for the French film I've Loved You So Long - and Changeling star Angelina Jolie.
Meryl Streep is also shortlisted for her role in Doubt, which has also picked up supporting actor nominations for Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams.
The late Heath Ledger joins Hoffman in the best supporting actor category, where Brad Pitt is also recognised for his comic turn in Burn After Reading.
Newcomer Dev Patel is a surprise inclusion in this category for his part in Slumdog Millionaire.
Danny Boyle's film - about a young slum dweller who becomes a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? - has 11 nominations in total, as does Benjamin Button.
Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight - in which Ledger played the villainous Joker - follows with nine nominations, while Changeling, directed by Clint Eastwood, is up for eight awards.
Frost/Nixon has received six nominations in all, while The Reader has five.
Acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire's other nominations include a best supporting actress nod for Indian actress Freida Pinto.