From here, Ramin Bahrani’s adaptation of Aravind Adiga’s novel begins to feel less like an imitation of Danny Boyle’s Oscar winner and more a stinging critique of it. There’s nothing feel-good about Balram’s climb up the greasy pole. To him, modern India is a “rooster coop” where servile masses wait stupidly to be butchered and fed to the rich. We know Balram escapes from the opening scene where, as a nattily attired entrepreneur, he starts narrating his life story. It begins in the early Noughties as the impoverished Balram decides to manipulate his way into the affections of Ashok (Rajkummar Rao), the American-educated son of the wealthy coal baron who owns his village.