Slumdog Millionaire is a relentlessly fast-paced rollercoaster ride through the sights and sounds of modern India. Starring Skins’ Dev Patel in his first major film role and centring upon the archetypal tale of two orphaned brothers who beg, borrow, steal and con their way into adolescence, the film is not only an epic love story tinged with cinematic classicism, but also a genuinely captivating snapshot of a country caught in the throes of seismic economic and cultural change.

As a young man from the slums of Mumbai is questioned by the police as to how he came to reach the final stages of the Indian version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, we are treated to series of vignettes that recall his life story – ranging from scenes of death-defying pre-teen train-surfing to hilarious episodes of Artful Dodger-esque panhandling.

Perhaps one of the most memorable moments in the film is when the character of Jamal, aged no older than five or six, is locked in a makeshift toilet by his brother as India’s most famous actor drops into town. Determined to obtain the stars’ autograph, the child leaps into the fetid faeces below and proceeds to run through a thronging crowd to greet the actor, clutching a dog-eared photograph in his shit-covered hand. His triumphant cry at receiving the actor’s squiggle will, no doubt, live long in anyone’s memory.

With the young stars hand-picked by Boyle from hundreds of Indian street children, the film feels uniquely authentic, and, although it spans some 20 years in documenting Jamal's unceasing quest to be re-united with his childhood love Latika (played as a young woman by Frieda Pinto), at no point does it feel too long. In fact, this film resolutely cements Boyle’s reputation as the undisputed master of a cinematic technique that almost seems like it's wired on the kind of amphetamines favoured by the character of Spud in his seminal classic, Trainspotting, and that is no bad thing.

Slumdog Millionaire is out on January 9.

Read an interview with Danny Boyle in this month’s issue of Dazed & Confused out now.

Viral film remixers Addictive TV have also been commissioned by Pathé to mix-up Slumdog Millionaire: