India wins at 2009 Oscar ceremony as Slumdog Millionaire grabs 8 Oscars

Some may call it Slumdog Millionaire's night but actually it turned out to be a celebration of India at the 81st Oscar ceremony. The real winner is Mumbai, said film director Danny Boyle. Almost the whole cast and crew of 'Slumdog Millionaire' including its child actors from Mumbai headed for the stage as the legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg announced the Oscar for Best Picture. Earlier, Slumdog Millionaire won two Oscars for India's most popular composer, AR Rahman.

In total Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars of the night, including Best Picture and Best Director.

A R Rahman won two Oscars, one each for the Best Original Soundtrack score and the Best Song categories. This  a first for any Indian composer. His hometown Chennai, formerly, Madras, reupted into ecstacy as Rahman's name was announced.

Resul Pookutty of India won the gold statue along with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke for best sound mixing of Slumdog Millionaire. Again, another first for any Indian in this category. In fact, the only Oscar winners from India, till date, were Bhanu Athaiyya (for film Gandhi's costume) and filmmaker Satyajit Ray (Life achievement)

The President and Prime Minister of India congratulated Rahman and Pookutty.

"I dedicate this award to my country. This is not just a sound award but a piece of history that has been handed over to me," a joyous Pookutty said while dedicating the trophy to a billion Indians.

"I come from a country and civilisation that gave the world the word that precedes silence and is followed by more silence. That word is Om. So I dedicate this award to my country," said Pokutty.

"This is unbelievable. I share the stage with two magicians, who captured the noise and cacophony of Mumbai to create the soul stirring artful sound of Slumdog Millionaire," he said.

Resul Pookutty

Pookutty, now, a winner of Oscar and BAFTA, had also won Cinema Audio Society (CAS) awards for best sound mixing. Of course, he is the first Indian to win all these three top awards. Resul Pookutty, 36, comes from the 'God's own country' Kerala in the southern India. Born in a small village Vilakkupara, near Anchal in Kollam district, 80 km away from the capital of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Resul is the youngest among the eight children of Mr. Pookutty and his wife Nabiza Beevi, according to India Today magazine.

A 1995 graduate from Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, Resul has done sound for a number of Bollywood films such as Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black, Ghajini, Musafir, Saawariya, Gandhi My Father, Dus Kahaniyaan, Traffic Signal, Zinda and his debut film Private Detective.

Pookutty, now a celebrity in Kerala, lives in Mumbai with his wife and two children.

Other Slumdog wins

British scriptwriter Simon Beaufoy fetched the Oscar in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for the film, based on Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup's novel "Q and A".

"It is a tremendous honour. I thank Vikas Swarup, without him Slumdog would not have happened, thanks Vikas Swarup," said Beaufoy while accepting the golden statuette.

"Thank you Dev, thank you Latika and the entire cast and crew of Slumdog," Beaufoy said.

The scriptwriter has already bagged the Golden Globe and BAFTA for Slumdog Millionaire.

"I learnt a lot about life," said Beaufoy about his India experience.

This is a first Oscar for Beaufoy, who was earlier nominated in 1997 in the Original Screenplay Category for the film Full Monty.

Anthony Dod Mantle bagged the second Oscar for the film in the Best Cinematography category nad Chris Dickens for its cinematography.

It was a first Academy for the 53-year-old Mantle.

"I should thank thousands but I can't do that. Of course thank you so much Academy...Thank you Danny Boyle and the team," said Mantle while accepting the Oscar at the star-studded ceremony.

Liam Neeson and Freida Pinto presented the award for best foreign language film.

Slumdog Millionaire: SYNOPSIS

An eighteen-year-old from the slums of Mumbai finds himself competing on the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," where the questions he must answer offer a look back at his earlier life. The show's host, however, insists that he must be cheating and takes steps to force young Jamal to admit that a boy from such an impoverished background could not possibly possess the knowledge necessary to win the show's top prize.