"Ella pughalum iraivanuke (All glory and fame is to God)" was how music maestro A R Rahman reacted to his double-Oscar feat. Besides God, the 'Mozart of Madras' also dedicated his Oscars to his "loving" mother Kareema Begum, who was seated among the audience at the Kodak Theatre.
Rahman has always dedicated his awards to them. "I always had a choice between love and hate in my life. And I chose love and I am here," a beaming Rahman said at the Awards Ceremony.
Having shouldered the responsibilities of his family at the tender age of 9, Rahman never had an opportunity to get proper education in his life. Begum had in an interview to a Tamil weekly had said she will feel bad forever for not giving her son an opportunity to enjoy his childhood days.
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.
After four Golden Globes, seven BAFTAs and seven Oscars, India still held her collective breath. There was that one final award, that one final nod of appreciation that the country so desperately wanted to see. And when it came, it was glorious! The film bagged its eight and last award for Best Film, where most of the cast and crew joined the producers on stage.
The gorgeous Freida Pinto, the energetic Anil Kapoor, the seasoned Irrfan, Mumbai's child actors, director Danny Boyle and co-director Loveleen Tandan went on-stage to celebrate!
Seeing the whole cast and crew up on the dais, sending off the television audience in true Bollywood fashion, was a moment that no true Indian will forget any time soon.
From a remote village in Kerala that had no electricity to the bright lights of Hollywood, what a journey it has been for 36-year-old Resul Pookutty, India's most feted sound technician.
Pookutty shared the Oscar for Best Sound Mixing with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke for their work in Slumdog Millionaire.