It was a dream run at the Oscars for India. Filmmaker Danny Boyle's rags-to-riches romance set in India, Slumdog Millionaire, won eight Oscar awards for best feature film, direction, original song, original score, sound mixing, editing, adapted screenplay and cinematography.
Resul Pookutty, who won the Oscar for best sound mixing, along with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke said, “I dedicate this award to my country. This is not just an award, it is history.” An elated Rahman who won the Academy Awards for best original score and song from the film Slumdog Millionaire said, “I want to thank everyone. The essence of the film is optimism and hope. All through my life I had the choice of love and hate…..…I chose love and I am here.”
Indian music maestro AR Rahman won the Oscar for his original score in the highly acclaimed movie Slumdog Millionaire. The composer was overwhelmed and interspersed his speech with Hindi as well as Tamil on receiving the coveted trophy here Sunday. "There is a dialogue from an old Hindi film, “Mere paas ma hai" - which means I have nothing but a mother. My mother is here, I have her blessings. I am glad she could be here," said Rahman. He ended the acceptance speech by saying "God is great" in Tamil, something he says after winning every award.
Oscars Nominees & Winners
Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)
Actor
Richard Jenkins in The Visitor
Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn in Milk (Winner)
Brad Pitt, in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler
Actress
Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie in Changeling
Melissa Leo in Frozen River
Meryl Streep in Doubt
Kate Winslet in The Reader (Winner)
Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin in Milk
Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (Winner)
Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road
Supporting Actress
Amy Adams in Doubt
Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Winner)
Viola Davis in Doubt
Taraji P Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler
Director
David Fincher in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard in Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant in Milk
Stephen Daldry in The Reader
Danny Boyle in Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)
Foreign Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex Germany
The Class France
Departures Japan (Winner)
Revanche Austria
Waltz With Bashir Israel
Adapted Screenplay
Eric Roth and Robin Swicord-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley-Doubt
Peter Morgan-Frost/Nixon
David Hare-The Reader
Simon Beaufoy-Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)
Original Screenplay
Courtney Hunt-Frozen River
Mike Leigh-Happy-Go-Lucky
Martin McDonagh-In Bruges
Dustin Lance Black- Milk (Winner)
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter-WALL-E
Animated Feature Film
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E (Winner)
Art Direction
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Winner)
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road
Cinematography
Changeling
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)
Sound Mixing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)
WALL-E
Wanted.
Sound Editing
The Dark Knight (Winner)
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted
Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Alexandre Desplat
Defiance - James Newton Howard
Milk - Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire- AR Rahman (Winner)
WALL-E Thomas Newman
Original Song
Down to Earth from WALL-E - Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman
Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire- AR Rahman and Gulzar (Winner)
O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire- AR Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam
Costume
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess (Winner)
Milk
Revolutionary Road
Documentary Feature
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire (Winner)
Trouble the Water
Documentary (short subject)
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki (Winner)
The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306
Film Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Winner)
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II
The Golden Army
Animated Short Film
La Maison en Petits Cubes (Winner)
Lavatory — Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up
Live Action Short Film
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland) (Winner)
Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Winner)
The Dark Knight
Iron Man