Slumdog kids walking on the red carpet a big statement, says Rahman

Chennai, Feb 26 (ANI): A. R. Rahman who won Oscars for best original score and best original song in the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' has said that the Slumdog kids sharing the platform with Hollywood actors like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is a bigger statement than him winning two Oscars.

Rahman returned to his home in Chennai to a rousing welcome early on Thursday morning.

Forty-three-year-old Rahman was received by friends and fans.

"I think the greatest thing that ever happened which is unbelievable for me is not me winning Oscar of Resul (Pookutty) or Danny Boyle. It is about kids who acted in the Slumdog, the middle class and the slum kids like Azharuddin, Rubina and Ayush. All of them coming on the red carpet along with Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie was the biggest statement ever, so it somewhere touched the equality of mankind, it is a great statement," he said.

"There has been a division in mankind always about religion, race and about rich and poor. And art is something which makes equal and I love that," he added.

Ace Indian drummer A. Sivamani, who was part of Roots, Rahman's first music band, said, "He deserves. I am very happy and very happy as an Indian."

The maestro is also only the fourth in the world ever to have won two Oscars for the best composition and the best song same year.

Rahman had also been named best composer at the Golden Globes last month.

"Slumdog," which tells of a young man looking for love and competing for money on the Indian version of the television game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire", scooped up eight Oscars, including best motion picture.

Despite earlier international credits such as the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Bombay Dreams", it is Rahman's work on British director Boyle's "Slumdog" that endeared him to Western critics.

'Slumdog Millionaire' bagged the awards-the best Motion Picture of the Year award, Danny Boyle (best director award), A R Rahman and Gulzar (Original Song 'Jai Ho'), Rahman (best score), Resul Pookutty (Sound Mixing), Anthony Dod Mantle (best Cinematography), Simon Beaufoy (Adapted Screenplay), Chris Dickens (Film Editing). (ANI)