Resul Pookutty created history being the first Indian musician to be conferred with the Academy Award. But then no one had expected to see what happened afterwards. The din was ebbing after Resul's touchy speech when our very worthy A R Rahman walked up to receive the prestigious award for the Best Composer for Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. Hardly had he left the stage but to re-enter with a live performance at the Kodak Theatre of two of his compositions O Saya and Jai Ho with a motley mix of foreigners in Indian attire and MIA in tow. A noteworthy aspect is that of the 3 nominations for the nest original song of the year, 2 were from our very own ARR and the third was from the animation Wall-E. The performances closed; ARR and others had not even left the stage when lo and behold ARR was called again to receive the Academy award for the best original song along with Gulzar Saab for Jai Ho. ARR delighted Hindi and Tamil movie-buffs alike by reciting two lines in both languages.
Add to this the award for the real-life documentary of Pink, Smile Piny and India walked away with 4 Oscars and 4 Academy Award winners.
Think of what the new movie credits would show henceforth - Academy Award winner A R Rahman... hmmm. that surely "does" sound very pleasing to the ear :-)
I do not think I ever watched an awards ceremony as religiously as I did this time for the 81st Academy Awards on 24-Feb-2009 (IST) and it was certainly worth every minute.
There are those who wish to gain popularity by announcing their joy in how ARR, Resul and Gulzar Saab have delivered the goods, in addition to Pinky and the cast of Slumdog Millionaire (I personally hate it when people refer to the movie simply as Slumdog) and there are those who have gained sufficient media space for speaking against the Awards and the essence of Indians rejoicing a British film's success. To those who fall in the first category, I do not have anything to offer but to those who are part of the second category, I would like to ask if the aforementioned names were not Indian. If thou does not like the movie awards, so be it... atleast respect the Indian-born winners.
Great work ARR, Resul and Gulzar Saab... I am certain this was not the last time you have stepped on to the Academy Awards stage... you will be back and there will more Indian technicians too.
