The story of 1 Oscar: No. 3453 Bollywood bound
Once he was simply known as Oscar No. 3453 but now the little gold man has a new name, 'Best Original Score,' and he's Bollywood bound.
AR Rahman, India's revered film composer, collected Oscar No. 3453 on Sunday night and will be taking him home to India.
And just to make sure No. 3453 won't be a lonely expatriate, Rahman won a second Oscar, for best song. Both were for the movie Slumdog Millionaire.
'I want to thank the Academy for being so kind,' said the composer known in his native country as the Mozart of the Madras.
In a way, the trip to India is only fitting for an Oscar that from the beginning just seemed destined for life on the road.
Unlike its 51 counterparts at Sunday's show, Oscar No. 3453 missed its flight a week and a half ago from Chicago to Los Angeles. It was photographed with the others at the R.S. Owens factory where they were cast, but then was somehow misplaced.
Quickly located, it was packed up and sent solo to Los Angeles.
It arrived at the Kodak Theatre no worse for wear. Once there, Steve Meisner, Hollywood's Keeper of Oscars, buffed it to a fine shine and placed it on a table with its brethren.
From there it was handed off to Rahman who will ensure that it becomes one of the world's most traveled Oscars.
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And then this:
Dev Patel helps co-star Rubina Ali, 9, work her way around unfamiliar food, as Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, (far right) figures out the cutlery.Everytime I saw them, either on stage or in their seats or on the red carpet, the team of Slumdog Millionaire was all in it, together. Scores of photos that show Danny Boyle and his team especially Dev Patel, hugging, hoisting and clutching the children from Mumbai's slums who are perhaps the real heroes of the film. Among all that Oscar finery and stiff bow-ties, there's the unmistakable feel of watching a bunch of people whose heart is in the right place.
13 comments:
totally with you about dev patel. i saw him help one of the two kids jump off a high ledge like thing. nice kid.
wonder what'll happen to the two 'slum-pups' once they are back.
I like that picture. How have you been, NM? Its been a while!
So listen, after all the build-up and fabulous clothes she wowed us with, I was a bit disappointed in Freida's outfit. No?
How sweet. Never seen that picture before. Very endearing. Have you seen this? I thot it was sort of cute too...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7BJ2izWaaY
choxbox - there one other picture where the whole gang in on stage when they won the best picture, and dev is right at the back, looking at rubina cradled in his lap. danny has the other kid in his arms. :)
They've set up some sort of trust fund for the slum-pups (nice!) so let's see. Hope to follow this up for my mag too.
momstir - thank you... I know! how've you been?
GirlOnTheBridge - me too. Though the fashion fraternity is split half way on it. I loved the colour though. It looked much nicer on the red carpet, the pix don't do the hue justice.
Tharini - love the video! especially where he calls Anne, Mrs Hathaway :) such as sweetheart!
I am happy you are wrote this post. I was also glued to the Oscar telecast, though I missed all the red carpet coverage.
And it gives a fuzzy feeling to see those kids, the real heroes, the most watchable actors in the film, smiling so profusely on stage. I loved the first third of the movie the most. It is amazing how churlish some Bollywood stars are behaving towards the win of the film.
Best wishes, Anjali
the second picture was so cute
Yeah, am not a great fan of Freida's outfit either. Her hair looked weird too. But presenting at the Oscars, must have been a hoot! The cast of SD was the cutest!
i hadn't seen this pic before.. by far the most endearing write-up about the win i have read..
You forgot Resul Pookutty. In India rarely do we acknowledge technicians and here for the first time a Sound mixer has also got us acclaim. Resul has worked before for so many films like Saawariya and recently Delhi 6 and yet it took an Academy award to make us notice him.
Then Smile Pinki also won an Oscar for India again made by Brits.
Aww...Dev Patel comes across as a genuine man.
I have got cable! Yes, thanks to such posts, I have resolved being glued to the TV is exactly what my life is missing and have laid my money down at the altar of entertainment. Grin.
Anjali - I agree. Sometime during the red carpet melee, one of the kids, who plays the second stage of Jamal, spread eagled his arms and legs and whooped saying this is better than dreams! I just totally wanted to hug him at that time! Will try and locate that pic and send it to you *wink, wink, the advantages of having unlimited AFP photo accounts!*
Tazeen - All of us girls at work were totally fawning over it!
Suj - yeah, kind of an anti-climax, no? Did you see her yellow gown at the Fox after-party tho? Withough any makeup and hair put up seemingly carelessly, she was back to her best :)
Gauri - I just couldn't get over the story of Rahman's Oscar. It's easy to miss the practical stuff behind the gloassamer magic we see on screen.
Solilo - Din't forget Resul. I cried when he talked about Om. Also I'll take a little bit of credit for Smile Pinki - made by an American filmmaker, not British. We were among the first mags to cover it, even before India was aware she had been nominated. There was another film about India in the running as well, 'final mile', about India's successful anti-polio drive. Just that these two bits are my favourite ones :)
Nitya - yay! *doing the jim carrey jig right now*
NM, Just noticed that you are a journalist.
Could you write something about 'final mile'? I have no clue about it.
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