Behind the Beautiful Forevers

"A Triumph"

Close to Mumbai airport on "a stretch where new India and old India collided and made new India late," is the bristling slum town of Annawadi, where violence and corruption rule.

The ever expanding gap between the rich and the poor is a constant strain to the Husain family who make their living recycling discarded plastic bottles and hope to raise themselves from poverty. A daughter who wants to graduate, a son who wants to be a better person and more, held together by the matriarch Zehrunisa. But surging ambition is cruelly dashed by the actions of one jealous neighbour and the subsequent onslaught of despair may just prove too much in this expertly played haunting and moving drama.

Starring Meera Syal, Behind the Beautiful Forevers is adapted by David Hare from Katherine Boo's non-fiction account of her time in India, where she captured the pain and heartbreaking nature of life pushed to the absolute limit. Directed by Rufus Norris, Behind the Beautiful Forevers is a powerful and intelligent production, showing how human nature reacts in the darkest of circumstances.