But as the Constant Gardener drew attention to Africa's largest slum Kibera, Slumdog Millionaire has helped cast a light on the underworld of India's poorest people.

I don't want to give away too much for people who haven't seen it and I will try not to here.

As expected there is inspirational cinematography and fantastic Bollywood vibes, so it is no wonder that the film has been nominated for the Oscars.

It is not one of my favourite films, but at the same time as the film highlights poverty of an unseen kind in this country, it also opens the door to a kind of humanity.

It is easy to put the "poor" people in the "developing world" in a box, to have a mental image of the slums and forget the complexity of real-life issues that exist beneath the corrugated iron and the plastic bags that litter the horizon of poverty stricken areas.

In the current economic crisis, money is at the forefront of everyone's minds.

Bills need to be paid, the food to be bought. But at the same time as being about money, the film showed most of all, I thought – without putting down its importance – that there are some things which transcend even money.

The millionaire theme which punctuates the plot only highlights that money or no money, some of the same issues exist for everyone – hatred, manipulation, love and fate.

Money is one of those things that you cannot live without but does living with lots of it really grant the kind of freedom we are inclined to believe it gives?