By Subhash K Jha

It was so hush-hush, no one in the city had an inkling of what was happening. The British maestro of auteur cinema Danny Boyle who has made films such influential docu-dramas of the wounded heart as Trainspotting, Shallow Graves and 28 Days Later and who's currently riding the crest of the global boxoffice with his sci-fi thriller Sunshine, came to Mumbai last month for a very secret project.

Following in the footsteps of that other internationally –renowned director Mira Nair who's ready to adapt Gregory David Roberts' Shantaram, Boyle too is Mumbai-bound.

Though the project is under wraps he's all set to film Vikas Swarup's satire on consumerism entitled Q &A.

The bestseller is about a young Mumbaiyite who wins a fortune on a KBC-styled game show.

While in Mumbai on his secret visit Danny Boyle auditioned the Mera Pehla Pehla Pyar star Ruslaan Mumtaz to play the lead role of Ram Mohammad Thomas and has almost finalized the young actor for the part.

"I can't deny it. But I'm not supposed to talk about," says Ruslaan reluctantly. "But what an opportunity. The first thing I did was to watch Trainspotting and Shallow Graves all over again. Wow!"

The British director apparently liked Ruslaan and has asked him to keep his date diary free early next year.