Former CIA officer John Kiriakou gave Dev Patel’s 2019 true-story movie about the 2008 Mumbai attacks a high accuracy score. Patel has played various characters, from his theatrical debut in 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire to his directorial debut as the leading man in Monkey Man.

The types of movies Patel has done also range widely. In addition to original stories, he has starred in multiple adaptations. In 2019, Patel starred in The Personal History of David Copperfield, playing the title character. In 2021 he was the Arthurian knight Gawain in The Green Knight. He has also had numerous roles in movies based on real events, including portraying mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan in the 2015 biopic The Man Who Knew Infinity.

Perhaps Patel’s most notable portrayal is from 2019’s Hotel Mumbai. According to Kiriakou, the film is highly accurate to the events of the Mumbai attacks in 2008. Patel portrays Arjun, a chef working at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in India. He works closely with an American guest David, played by Armie Hammer, as they try to escape the hotel while helping others get out as well. The film has a 76% Rotten Tomatoes critic score. They said that while some may find certain scenes exploitative, the movie never holds back on its depiction of the horrors that occurred.

Kiriakou granted much praise for Hotel Mumbai when speaking with Insider for their series How Real Is It?  He called it highly accurate to what happened during the 2008 attacks it portrays and also gave additional context about the attack, including how he was one of the few people to recognize it as a Kashmiri separatist group as it was unfolding.

He also praised Patel’s depiction of Arjun, saying many members of the hotel staff led people out of the building, likely saving hundreds of lives. Kiriakou gives the movie a 9 out of 10 for real-world accuracy. Check out the full video below, or check out the Hotel Mumbai segment at the 15:35 mark.