Slumdog Millionaire swept the 2009 Golden Globes picking up four awards including for Best Picture.

One of the finest movies to come out of India in recent years, Slumdog Millionaire is the riveting life-story of an 18-year-old Mumbai ’slumdog’ and chaiwallah Jamal (Dev Patel) who happens to win the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire much to the bafflement and chagrin of the program’s host (Anil Kapoor).

Besides the Best Picture award, Slumdog Millionaire also won for Best Original Score (A.R.Rahman), Best Director (Danny Boyle) and Best Screenplay (Simon Beaufoy).

What raises Slumdog Millionaire to the level of a classic is its amazing portrayal of the wonder and chaos and injustice that’s India.

The filthy slums, the abject poverty, the Hindu-Muslim violence, the Bollywood craze, cricket mania, Mumbai underworld, horrific exploitation of young children, the ‘new’ India rising over the demolished slums of Mumbai, police brutality, the call centers, inexplicable goodness in some souls, the packed commuter trains et al – nay, the very essence of India is distilled and captured with unusual verve and dexterity in the moving story of Slumdog Millionaire.

The movie debuts in India next Thursday.