Wednesday 25 February 2009

Jai Ho

Slumdog Millionaire was topdog at the Oscars.
It won a total of 8 awards
3 for Indians
Best Original Score and Song for A R Rahman and Gulzar
Best Soundmixing for Resul Pookutty.



A R Rahman performing at the Oscars


Mumbai celebrates
In all the revelry and jubilation my city has something
more to celebrate.
The Indian diplomat Vikas Swaroop ( currently posted in South Africa)
on whose novel Q&A the motion picture is based
belongs to Allahabad.
There was a great celebration at his parent 's house.
I thought I' d mention this as
everybody tries to establish their
six degrees of separation these days.

The story of an Indian girl born with a cleft lip has won the Oscar award in the short documentary feature category.
Smile Pinki tells the story of eight-year-old Pinki's journey from being a social outcast in her village to her acceptance by society.
The 39-minute film, made by American director Megan Mylan, was one of four short documentaries nominated for the Academy Awards.
Campaigners say it is a big boost for children born needing cleft surgery.
Ms Mylan thanked Pinki in her acceptance speech at the award ceremony in Hollywood.
"Thank you Pinki. Thank you for letting me tell your incredible story," she said.
'Asleep'
Pinki, for her part, had fallen asleep before the award was announced.
"Pinki was in the hall, but was asleep by then, it was quite late," plastic surgeon Dr Subodh Kumar Singh told the BBC from Los Angeles.

Pinki smiles at Oscars
Dr Singh performed the corrective surgery on Pinki in 2007 which transformed her life.
"Before the awards, she was very good on the red carpet and posed for pictures with the rest of the team. But she got tired and fell asleep," he said.
Dr Singh described Smile Pinki's victory as "fabulous".
"The Oscar is the biggest news for cleft children. It will bring awareness about the problem and help the cause of four million children worldwide who are born with cleft," he said.
Meanwhile, celebrations have begun in Pinki's village Rampur Dhavaia in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
Pinki's mother Shimla Devi, uncle Mithai Lal Sonkar and other relatives watched the Oscar ceremony live on the only television set in the village at the home of a retired government official.
'Huge procession'
"The news has been received with much joy," Mithai Lal Sonkar told the BBC.
"The villagers marched in a huge procession, there were 500 to 600 people, there was drum beating and the crowds chanted 'Bharat mata ki jai' [Long live Mother India]."
"The head of the village council has brought sweets and Pinki's mother has gone to the Shiva temple for thanksgiving."

The award has been welcomed by campaigners
He said the villagers had organised two days of prayers at the Shiva temple to pray for Pinki's victory.
Born with a cleft lip in an impoverished family, Pinki spent the first few years of her life in abject misery.
Before the surgery, Pinki was shunned and teased by the children in her village.
"Everyone called me hothkati [the girl with the torn lip]," Pinki told the BBC earlier in February.
"I would feel very bad. I would feel hurt and get very angry. Sometimes I would abuse them. Now no one calls me a hothkati. They all call me Pinki," she said.
But post-Oscar, Pinki is a big star.
"We are all waiting for her to return from LA, then we will have real celebrations," her uncle said.
The award has also been welcomed by campaigners.
"Most people are unaware that cleft can be corrected and that too, totally free," Satish Kalra, South Asia director of global cleft charity Smile Train, told the BBC.



"This Oscar will create tremendous awareness about cleft, how it can be fixed, how a child will look post surgery. And even if 1% of the four million cleft patients go for surgery after this film, it will mean 40,000 people.
"Can you imagine any other Oscar which has transformed the lives of so many people? I am absolutely delighted by the award," he said.
(Source BBC)

11 Fertilize my soul:

monsoon dreams said...

yes,rahman and rasool have made us proud.may pinki be an inspiration to many.
how r u,amrita?

Amrita said...

It was a great moment for India.
Altho Slumdog is not basically an Indian film as it was made by a European but its based, and shot in India with an Indian story and actors and crew and technians.

Amrita said...

Hi MD, coming back to you.
These days I am not feeling too good, with the weather changing my sinus trouble is kicking in.

Dick said...

Oh that's a touching story, the movie must be great.
I'm glad she has a good life now.

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Amrita :)

This year will be etched in letters gold in the annals of the history of India when so many Academy Awards were won on account of India and Indian actors. Unbelievable!

A lot of celebration took place in Kollam, Kerala, the native place of Rosul Pookutty. All all eagerly waiting for him to come to give a grand reception.

Our ladies won Miss Universe and Miss World contests and put India on the world map. Now the Indian men put a few more feathers on Indian cap by winning the coveted Awards.

India is really becoming a power house of world beaters.

This is indeed a very proud moment for us, Indians.

JAI HIND!

I am sorry to hear about your sinus trouble. I know it is painful. I hope and pray that it will go away fast.

God bless :)

Annette said...

I so bad want too see that movie,"Slum dog Millionaire", when I saw the children that where from India, I thought what a great treat for them, then they will have to go back home, and have some great memories of "Oscar's" I had a cousin who was born with a cleft pallet, and both of her girls where born with them as well, she was in the Army, in Germany, when they girls where born and each girl came back to the U.S. to have corrective surgery, she would not let any one in Germany do the surgery, only Doctors in San Fransisco, California, that where all the best of best doctors are, we think!
Thank you for sharing, I love coming by and visiting with you.

David Edward said...

i love this blog and what you do here. It is a good thing to make cleft lip/ palette surgery available to more children. I need to see what I can do to help.

Carol-Ann Allen said...

WooHoo for Pinki! What a wonderful, good news feature for the world!

monsoon dreams said...

hope ur sinus isnt troubling you too much,amrita.have a wonderful day!

Saija said...

i thought of you when the oscar went to this movie ... it certainly put the spotlight on India ...

Roo said...

i need to see this movie.