“Slumdog Millionaire” and its helmer, Danny Boyle, managed to outshine major-studio nominees with their contemporary story about expectation and harsh times in the slums of Mumbai and collect most of the top honors at the 81^st annual Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday.

 

During his acceptance speech of the best director prize, Danny Boyle paid tribute to the inhabitants of Mumbai, thousands of whom made several appearances in his film. “You dwarf even this guy,” the filmmaker said, admiring his Oscar statuette. Only a few minutes later, “Slumdog Millionaire” was named best picture, thus offering the event a conspicuously international incline.

 

The 52-year-old director is renowned for adding a rousing turn on his often gloomy and refined movies, which have included “Trainspotting,” a production that deals with heroin addiction, and “Sunshine,” which portrays the nature of sacrifice.

 

The numerous honors for “Slumdog Millionaire,” whose writer, Simon Beaufoy, was awarded for best adapted screenplay among other prizes for the production, put the last touches on the movie’s stable walk past opponents such as Paramount Pictures’ “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and Universal Pictures’ “Frost/Nixon.”

 

The best picture prize was the first one for Fox Searchlight, the studio that distributed “Slumdog Millionaire” in the United States, as in the past the studio seemed to miss the top honor by a whisker with several best picture contenders that included “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Sideways,” as well as “The Full Monty.”