This has been a special day for the Indian film industry. But not because ‘Slumdog millionaire’ has won eight Academy Awards at the 81st Academy Awards ceremony at LA Kodak theater but because of the fact that our very own AR Rahman has won OSCARS for the best Music(song) Jai Ho and best original score.
In his thank you speech Rahman said—“Before coming, I was excited and terrified. The last time I felt like that was during my marriage. There's a dialogue from a Hindi film called "Mere paas ma hai," which means "I have nothing but I have a mother," so mother's here, her blessings are there with me. I am grateful for her to have come all the way. And I want to thank the Academy for being so kind, all the jury members. I want to thank Sam Schwartz, I/D PR, all the crew of Slumdog, Mr. Gulzar, Raqueeb Alam, Blaaze, my musicians in Chennai and Mumbai. And I want to tell something in Tamil, which says, which I normally say after every award which is... "God is great." Thank you.
Also Resul Pookutty wojn the Oscars for the Sound Mixing category alongside Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke. In his acceptance speech Resul gave a special mention to India when he said—“This is unbelievable. We can't believe this. Ladies and gentlemen... sorry... I share the stage with two magicians, you know, who created the very ordinary sounds of Bombay, the cacophony of Bombay, into a soul-stirring, artful resonance called Slumdog Millionaire.
I come from a country and a civilization that given the universal word. That word is preceded by silence, followed by more silence. That word is "Om." So I dedicate this award to my country. Thank you, Academy, this is not just a sound award, this is history being handed over to me. My sincere and deepest gratitude to my teachers, Danny Boyle, Christian Colson, Paul Ritchie, Pravesh... and everybody who has contributed to this film, Glenn Freemantle and all the sound mixers. I dedicate this to you guys. Thank you, Academy. Thank you very much.
"Slumdog" writer Beaufoy, who adapted the script from Vikas Swarup's novel "Q&A," said there are places he never could imagine being.
"For me, it's the moon, the South Pole, the Miss World podium, and here," Beaufoy said.
In all, Slumdog Millionaire" has cruised to eight Academy Awards wins including best director for Danny Boyle.
The evening is following the script of earlier Hollywood honors, with "Slumdog Millionaire" steamrolling its way towards the big prize, best picture. The other Oscars for "Slumdog Millionaire" include adapted screenplay, cinematography and both music awards, for score and song.
For his demented reinvention of Batman villain the Joker, Heath Ledger becomes only the second actor ever to win posthumously, his triumph coming 13 months after his death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs on Oscar nominations day last year.
The previous posthumous Oscar recipient was Peter Finch, who won best actor for 1976's "Network" two months after his death.
At the start of this piece I said that this is a special day because of Allah Rakha Rahman but not because of Slumdog millionaire in which almost everyone from producer to director, from technicians to distributors were foreigners so why is that the Indian media is going haywire over the ‘Slumdog success’. Of course there is no denying that we all are very proud for AR and we should celebrate his success as our own success but the media is jumping the gun just because there are some familiar faces acting in the movie. The movie has got its own share of critics as well like Amitabh Bachhan who has regret the fact that director Danny Boyle has chosen the slums and the dirty and filthy underbelly of the “Rising India”. So are we too touch to manifest the reality of India and does it make us uneasy when one foreign film director showcases Mumbai riots, beggary rackets, slums and brothels of India or are we mature enough to accept the facts as they are? What do you think?
Abhay Mittal
Courtesy-AP
