Chinese and Indian engineers hail from places that have much more in common with nitty gritty Africa than comfortable Silicon Valley or Cambridge.

Exuberant, exciting, gaudy, and gritty in a way that can only be called Dickensian, Slumdog Millionaire brings contemporary Mumbai to life from the seamy side up, and it does so with brio, compassion, and all round cinematic excellence.

It began in mid December in the gritty industrial town of Timisoara, close to the Hungarian border. When Ceausescu ordered the military to stage a show of force against those who dared oppose him, commanders took him literally they put on a parade, complete with marching band.