DREAMING of a better life, Rupesh Thomas travelled to England from India with just £600 to his name.
But more than 15 years later the businessman is now a real life 'slumdog millionaire' after making his fortune producing chai tea.
Today Mr Thomas, 39, owns a £1 million property in Wimbledon, South-West London and a second home worth around £350,000 in Croydon, South London.
Rupesh Thomas, 39, (pictured left with wife Alexandra, 37) has told how, after arriving in England from humble beginnings in Kerala, southern India, with just £600 to his name, he found his fortune producing chai tea
Growing up in Kerala in Southern India, Mr Thomas became 'obsessed' with England.
Here he is pictured left as a child in India, with his younger brother Rakesh, 35, and slot gacor 2022 mother, Shyla then on the right again with Rakesh (pictured to the left)
His chai tea business Tuk Tuk Chai is worth around £2 million and supplies luxury department store Harvey Nichols.
British actor Dev Patel's character Jamal Malik in the 2008 hit film Slumdog Millionaire made his fortune by winning a TV gameshow - but Mr Thomas did not rely on luck.
Growing up in Kerala in Southern India, he became 'obsessed' with England and was determined to find out whether the streets of London were really paved with gold.
He said: 'My father travelled with work.
He had a picture of London and I would look at it. I desperately wanted to be there. I dreamed of a better life. And, for me, that life was in England.'
Aged 23, Mr Thomas sold his Yamaha motorcycle for £300, borrowed some more money from his father and took a one-way £300 flight to London in 2002.