India celebrates Slumdog Millionaire's eight-Oscar victory
(Embraced ... Danny Boyle with Rubina Ali, one of the child stars of Slumdog Millionaire, and one of the film's eight Oscars)
India finally laid claim to Slumdog Millionaire – after weeks of controversy the country basked in the glory of the film's eight Oscars, the most of any movie this year, including the top prize of best motion picture.
- Slumdog Millionaire
- Release: 2008
- Country: UK
- Cert (UK): 15
- Runtime: 120 mins
- Directors: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan
- Cast: Amil Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Azharudin Mohammed Ismail, Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Irrfan Khan, Madhur Mittal, Rubina Ali
News channels broadcasting live commentary of the Hollywood event called the presentation of the best film award – when Slumdog's vast cast and crew took to the dais – a "victory for India". Shown repeatedly was the clip of the movie's producer Christian Colson speaking of the "shared love of the extraordinary city of Mumbai".
Cameras shot celebrations erupting in the family homes of AR Rahman, the composer who took home two golden statuettes, and Resul Pookutty, the Bollywood sound engineer who was part of the winning sound mixing team.
The star for India was definitely Rahman, known as the Mozart of Madras, who picked up the Oscar for best original score before scooping the best song award moments later.
He thrilled the home audience by speaking in his native Tamil, closing his second acceptance speech with the evocation: "God is great." His sister, Rehana, told Indian television that "we won't lose Rahman to Hollywood … he belongs to everyone but he's Indian".
The film's use of Indian actors and the country's landscape produced a welter of stories in the national press, ranging from fascination with the rapid ascent of Mumbai model Freida Pinto to the pages of Vogue; the controversy over whether child actors from the slums had been paid enough; and even the bad Hindi spoken by British Asian actor Dev Patel.
There was almost universal praise for Slumdog Millionaire's director Danny Boyle for choosing to capture, in the words of Bollywood lyricist Gulzar, "the spirit of Mumbai". "I am thrilled and happy ... Danny and Rahman helped to capture the spirit of this city," said the songwriter who penned the lyrics of Slumdog's winning song, Jai Ho.
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