10 Oscar hopes for Slumdog
Mumbai, Jan 23: If experts are to be believed, critically acclaimed 'Slumdog Millionaire" is at 2-7odds of winning the prestigious Academy Award for the Best Motion Picture. The film, which has won four Golden Globe Awards and has garnered 10 nominations at the Oscars.
The movie tracks the story of Jamal Malik, a dirt-poor orphan from the slums who astonishes India when he does well on the country"s version of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" The cast and crew of Slumdog Millionaire celebrated their 10 Oscar nominations at the film"s India premiere in Mumbai on Thursday night Jan 22. At a star-studded red carpet event, as congratulations poured in, they broke into an impromptu bhangra sessi-on to toast the achievement.
Indian music composer A R Rahman has been nominated for original score while director Danny Boyle is a nominee in Best Director category. Rahman said: “I am on top of the world. I don"t have words to describe how I feel. I am choking with joy. I believe the love and prayers of millions of Indians made it possible. It"s a dream come true."“It is unbelievable! I think our chances are very bright, I feel the world is going to change for good."
Damian
Smee,
film
expert
from
William
Hill,
one
of
the
largest
bookmakers
in
the
UK,
has
been
compiling
Oscar
odds
for
27
years
and
picks
up
the
winner
'eight
times
out
of
ten".
He
said
that
Slumdog
Millionaire
is
at
2-7
odds
of
winning
the
Oscars
while
The
Curious
Case
Of
Benjamin
Button
is
at
4-1
odds.
Boyle
is
at
4-9
odds
of
winning
the
Oscars
for
the
Best
Director
compared
to
7-2
for
David
Fincher,
The
Curious
Case
Of
Benjamin
Button,
8-1
for
Ron
Howard,
Frost/Nixon,
8-1
for
Stephen
Daldry,
The
Reader,
and
10-1
for
Gus
Van
Sant,
Milk.
Director Danny Boyle said he was 'proud' of the film and saluted the city it is based in. “I was privileg-ed to have made this film. It"s such an amazing city. All the characters are rooted here." Irrfan Khan, who plays a policeman in the film, said, “I hope the Oscar comes to India now. Everyone, from the technicians to the performers, has done an outstanding job. Jai Ho!"
Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Imran Khan, Avantika Malik, Amrita Rao, Jitendra and Yash Chopra were present to congratulate the entire film"s cast.
OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)