Rags-to-riches story got its happy ending on Sunday night, when Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” went home with eight Academy Awards, including one for best picture and one for best director.

Coming from the director who has given some memorable movies so far, such as “Trainspotting,” “The Beach” and “28 Days Later,” „Slumdog Millionaire” follows the same unconventional and astonishing line its predecessors have.

Shot at the heart of India in Mumbai, the film tells the story of 18-year-old orphan Jamal Malik, portrayed by British actor Dev Patel, who gets to be a contestant on the Indian version of the „Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” game show. And when he gets all the answers right and reaches the final stage of the contest, the boy living in the slums of Mumbai is brought in for an interrogatory at the police station, accused of having cheated on the show.

The plot line about hardships and striving to make ends meet from a very early age is intertwined with one about love at first sight, between Malik and Latika, their romance being unfortunately also shrouded in turmoil and at times despair.

Based a novel by Vikas Swarup about an Indian orphan's struggle to get on in life and  find love, ”Slumdog Millionaire” earned a string of prestigious awards at the Golden Globes and from the Producers Guild of America, Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild, as well, while it was nominated for 10 Oscars, of which it won eight Sunday at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.