Click to play videoThe man behind the small film with the big heart, Danny Boyle has a different take on the Mumbai slums. The British director behind cult hits like Shallow Grave and Trainspotting says he was drawn to the script of Slumdog Millionaire because it was a classic rags-to-riches story that audiences from world over would relate with. But the real excitement came from the opportunity to film in a city with a throbbing pulse.
Boyle says it was a challenge finding the kids who play the protagonists in Slumdog Millionaire and also reveals the formula for drawing out endearing performances from children.
CNN-IBN Entertainment Editor, Rajeev Masand met Danny Boyle in London a few weeks ago, before Slumdog Millionaire swept the Golden Globes and spoke to him about his heart-warming film.
Rajeev Masand: Danny Boyle welcome to CNN-IBN. One of the things which I think is remarkable about Slumdog Millionaire is the manner in which you shoot the slums of Mumbai. It's vibrant and it's buzzing and of course it's dirty and smelly and all those things, but it's really a sort of a live sub-culture. Is that really what you saw when you visited the slum the first time?
Danny Boyle: Very much. I didn't even think of it as a sub-culture. I was amazed at how industrious, busy the places were. We have such a prejudistic word 'slum' in the western world. We think people are very, very poor, starving, no work - all those kind of images you have of it and that's nonsense of course. They are incredibly busy places. The fact that there isn't sufficient sanitation, sufficient running water for the day or electricity - that is not those peoples' fault. That fault lies somewhere else. The people themselves organise everything amazingly.
This whole community works in a very, very efficient way and we were the most disruptive thing there for them. I mean bringing in a film crew is very disruptive. And we relied on their generosity and we got nothing but generosity from the people. They were just insistent that we didn't show them as poor, we didn't keep saying that they were poor all the time, because they don't see themselves like that. People do they best they can with their circumstances and you have to celebrate that. So we tried to make the scenes very vibrant and give a huge welcome to Mumbai - that's how it acts in the beginning of the film, it says here you are in the deep end, get a load of this.
Rajeev Masand: Tell me what was it that drew you to the film when it was first offered to you. What made you think that this is a story that will work universally because I am sure you always saw this movie as an international film.
Danny Boyle: I didn't think of it in any other way, other than that you just get involved in the narrative. You just think I want to make this film. I didn't particularly want to make a film on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire but it's a key ingredient of the plot. But I realised much later that that was going to help it around the world because it is a show that has run successfully all over the world and it has a very big following in India itself and many, many other territories as well.
And one of the characters in the movie is Mumbai, the city, where all the other characters emerge from and I wanted to try and capture it all - but you can only capture a bit of it. You can't get it all. You never will. It's insane to think that you will capture it all because it is so complex and so ever-changing. It's like the ocean you know - it's moving all the time, but it is the ocean as well at the same time and just trying to get a flavour, an essence of that was the object within this story. It's just a wonderful universal story, a classic rags-to-riches story.
Rajeev Masand: Tell me what was it like casting the kids? Was that a difficult process? I remember meeting you in Mumbai when you were beginning to cast and you had open calls and auditions all over the country. Was it a long process? Did you find them easily?
Danny Boyle: We went everywhere. We went to five to six cities in India. We also went to North America, Canada, England obviously. It was fascinating really meeting people. Of course, what's interesting about the film is that there are three characters and you meet them at three different ages so that's nine actors, all of them have to feel like they belong to the family if you like, to each other and to their earlier as well as older selves. So even if you got excited about someone you met, you have to be careful because you may never find two other people who could possibly match with him. So it was doubly complicated.
Fortunately, acting and films is such a natural part of life in India - it's like America - people love the movies. So they very naturally adapt to the idea of acting, even if they have never acted before - they are like, 'oh you mean like this? Like Shah Rukh Khan in this movie or Anil Kapoor in that movie?' And they do bits from the movies that they have seen you know, and of course like Amitabh Bachchan so it's actually not straightforward, but relatively comfortable doing it. And I am happy to say that we found a lot of very, very talented people.
Rajeev Masand: You know most directors claim that working with children is a very very difficult process. You never had any problem did you? You did Millions with two wonderful young kids and now you have done Slumdog Millionaire. What's the trick really?
Danny Boyle: I think you have to be a bit of a kid yourself really. You can't expect them to behave like adults. They do some of the times and they act better than adults some of the times, which is why adult actors really fear the presence of children on the sets because it will expose their own performances which are mannered and full of tricks. The kids are so pure and clean. But you basically have to behave like a big kid yourself. Because then they can say this looks easy. Stress! What's stress? Anyway they are seven. You don't want to introduce them to the world of stress yet. They are kids and they should have fun, and laugh around and there are some great results really. You just got to make it more fun than school really and they are happy to be there.
Rajeev Masand: Tell us a little about working with A R Rahman on the music of the film.
Danny Boyle: He's a bit of a genius you have to say. I approached him to do the film, and he's a very busy guy obviously, so popular. It's difficult to explain to people in the West just how famous this guy is and just how many records he sells. But he is very simple and plain and I love that quality about him. He's very straightforward despite his fame - almost extraordinary, supernatural fame.
I said to him that I promise I will mix the music with the film. I am not going to hide the music, because that was always one of the things that I thought he would be wary about. In the West we tend to use music and we hide it behind the film and you are not aware of the music a lot of times and I said I will be very proud of your music for the film. And I will mix it right at the front of the music and it will be bold.
Rajeev Masand: Right up to the big song at the end!
Danny Boyle: Yes of course, we did a song at the end and we originally did it to a different song. And he said, I'll replace that for you and I went 'what'! And he said I will write you another song for that dance. So he's got a mind that's able to completely work the other way round if necessary, you know.
I mean we'd be working together and he doesn't follow things which I tell him literally, which is terrible, but he takes the instinct he just works more like that and he gives something which is worth it. It's been one of the high points of my career so far to be able to work on music with him, yeah!
Rajeev Masand: Best of luck Danny and thank you so much for talking to us.
Danny Boyle: Thanks very much.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.