A.R. Rahman creates history at Oscars

Indian music maestro A.R. Rahman made history as he became the first Indian to win two Oscars as "Slumdog Millionaire", the rags to riches story of a boy from the slums of Mumbai, swept the annual Academy Awards.

British director Danny Boyle's hit film not only won the Oscars for best picture and best director at Sunday night's annual Academy Awards ceremony at Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, but also for six others including two for Rahman.

Rahman, the third Indian to win the coveted golden statuette, picked up the awards for his best original score as also the best original song "Jai ho" from the film with lyrics by Gulzar and Sukhwinder Singh as the lead singer.

"God is great!" Rahman exclaimed in Tamil as he picked up the awards, saying he was as excited and terrified before coming here as he was at his marriage.

Competing with "Jai ho" for the second Oscar was another song composed by Rahman, "O Saya" from "Slumdog Millionaire", with its lyrics too written by him with Maya Arulpragasam (MIA). He also sang the song with Maya, the British singer of Sri Lankan origin.

Apart from Rahman, India's Resul Pookutty shared the Oscar with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke in the sound mixing category in the rags-to-riches story.

"This is unbelievable. I share this stage with two magicians", who transformed the very ordinary sounds of Mumbai, Pookutty said. Dedicating the award "to my country", he said: "It is not an award, but history being handed over to me."

Simon Beaufoy, who won the Oscar for adapted screenplay, complimented Indian diplomat and Vikas Swarup on whose novel "Q and A" the film is based. "We would not be here without Vikas Swarup," he said.

The crowd-pleasing story of a boy from the slums of Mumbai who goes on to win the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" also won the awards for film editing by Chris Dickens and best cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle.

Only Glenn Freemantle and Tom Sayers lost out in the sound editing category to Richard King for "The Dark Knight".

"Slumdog" has been the winter's surprise winner, racking up victories at practically every juncture. The Golden Globes gave "Slumdog" its top award; so did the Producers Guild, the Writers Guild, the Directors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

India-themed documentary "Smile Pinki" by American filmmaker Megan Mylan - a heartwarming tale of a poor village girl called Pinki whose cleft lip made her a social outcast, till her life changed after a meeting with a social worker also picked up an Oscar.

It edged out "The Final Inch" by American documentary makers Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant about health workers travelling throughout Uttar Pradesh, urging parents to vaccinate their children against polio.

"It is God's blessing and all the accolades to Him (God)," A.R. Rahman's sister Reihana said as she watched her brother stride towards the Kodak stage in Los Angeles to receive his second Oscar for Danny Boyle's rags-to-riches story.

"We are elated. Rahman has won, thanks to the whole nation's prayers," Reihana, a well-known Tamil music composer and singer, told IANS.

She had not yet called up her brother to congratulate him, but said she would speak to him soon.

"I don't want to disturb him in the middle of his glory at the function, right now. When he gets back, we will express our delirious happiness and much more. We are speechless," said the ecstatic sister.

Reihana had predicted two Oscars for Rahman during a chat with IANS on Sunday.

Asked if she had any special gift in mind for her brother, Reihana said: "I haven't planned one as yet. But I think Rahman should give me a gift since I prayed so hard for him to win!"

She once again stressed that it was God's blessings that had made Rahman triumph at the Academy Awards.

"Once he returns, Rahman and I and the rest of the family will go on thanksgiving pilgrimages to several dargahs (Muslim shrines) to express our gratitude to God for blessing us so mercifully and in such magnitude," Reihana said.

"We hope this means more Hollywood offers for Rahman after this," the proud sister added.

Accolades for the music maestro poured in from his colleagues from the film industry here.

Tanvi Shah, who sang part of the Oscar winning number "Jai Ho", jumped with joy and said that Rahman had won the Oscars for the whole nation.

"I'm just so thankful to God for this. Rahman deserves every bit of this. This award is for India," said Tanvi, who watched the entire Oscar ceremony with her family.

"I was crying throughout the ceremony and praying really hard for him to win. The one person our team is missing the most is sound engineer H. Sreedhar, the sound engineer who created the final copy. Sadly, he passed away recently," she added.

Madhumita, who sang "Liquid Dance" and "Millionaire" in the movie, is also elated.

"Jai Ho Rahman sir! You have done our country proud. I feel so blessed right now to be a part of 'Slumdog Millionaire' and am on cloud nine," she said.
Well-known lyricist Javed Akhtar says that he is not surprised by fellow writer Gulzar, technician Resul Pookutty and Indian music maestro A.R. Rahman's win at the Oscars. He says their success will bring global attention to Indian cinema.

"I'm not surprised by A.R. Rahman, Gulzar and Resul Pookutty bagging the honour. In fact, I quite expected Gulzar saab to win the Oscar and like all Indians, feel immensely proud and happy with their unprecedented achievement," Javed Akhtar told IANS.

"Rahman is an acknowledged international talent and the Oscar will draw the world's attention to his music and Indian movies as a whole," Javed Akhtar said.

Talking about Pookutty, the veteran said: "Resul Pookutty's bagging the award symbolises that even technically India is at par with the rest of the world.

"Now that international awards have started coming to India, I am confident it will bring international show business also to India in a big way."

Indo-Asian News Service