Salman Rushdie criticised Danny Boyle’s Oscar winning movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ on the grounds that it lacked plausibility. He’s obviously sensitive to the fact that the poverty in India is used as a convenient backdrop rather than attempting to carry any overt social or political message. But I think he’s underestimating the fact that the movie presents the sinister and squalid aspects of life in the slums of India when it would have been quite easy to prettify these scenes.

I also think he’s being impossibly idealistic if he thinks that realism is a consideration in mainstream blockbusters. Imagine Quantum of Solace without the idealised jet set glamour or the uncanny ability of James Bond to withstand injury, maintain an immaculate wardrobe and find an Internet connection in any location. The suspension of disbelief is part of the movie going experience and I would say there’s a category of plausibly implausible that can work very effectively.

I personally don’t have any problem over Boyle’s geographical relocation of the Taj Mahal or the unlikelihood that the questions Jamal is asked on the game show would coincide so conveniently with his life experience.. I’m not saying this because I believe that Slumdog Millionaire is a masterpiece. While the Dickensian hand to mouth existence of the streetwise kids is captured very well I think the love story that dominates the second half of the movie destroys the dramatic tension in favour of cheap sentimentalism.

Danny Boyle hit the nail on the head when he said that his movie is so successful because it has the right message at the right time. A rags to riches feel good fantasy is exactly the escapist entertainment the punters want in these dark days of the credit crunch.  (Maybe the sequel will show Jamal losing all in money in a series of speculative investments that go pear-shaped!)

The movie’s triumph is itself the stuff of dreams – a cast of unknowns defeating Hollywood’s major players is a shot in the arm for the underdog. There’s so much cause for pessimism that the message of hope this sends is not to be sniffed at.  All that and the very wonderful MIA on the soundtrack! Things could have been much worse – lighten up Salman!