Somewhere between Bollywood and Hollywood, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ captured the heart of the world, and 8 Oscars in 2009.

Paul Gambaccini tells the gripping story of the low budget independent production that got lucky.

He talks to some of those central to its creation, from Vikas Swarup, the Indian Diplomat who wrote the original novel, co-director Loveleen Tandem, who helped persuade the studios to let the child actors speak Hindi, and Resul Pookerty, whose magical soundscape of India won him an Oscar and changed his life for ever.

It's a film which took a city, a child of the slums, and a game show – and turned it into a star-crossed romance; a film which snuck past the infamous Foreign Language category and into the mainstream Best Picture category at the 81st Academy Awards - despite being at least 20% Hindi.

Winning 8 Oscars, the film had no star actors, but a cast of millions - the city of Mumbai. The real star name was Danny Boyle, a director who, according to screen writer Simon Beaufoy, discovered in Mumbai a city ‘like the inside of his head’ - vibrant, frenetic, dazzling, and full of extremes.

It nearly went straight to DVD, but rose again to take Oscar after Oscar, from under the noses of studio films.

Paul Smith of Celador Productions, describes how his company, who invented the game show, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”, got lucky a second time - winning a Best Picture Oscar.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2016. Show less