AR Rahman – Destiny's Child
The biggest movie event of the year in Hollywood, Oscar Night will begin tomorrow and the prominence for this western event to India comes from the movie that has been making the head lines every other day, 'Slumdog Millionaire'. With two Indians in contention, this year's academy award is a special event for the billions here in our country and they are ardently praying for our very own 'Mozart of Madras' to bag the coveted trophy making India proud. Tagging with Rahman is Maya Arulpragasam, easily identified as M.I.A christened after her first album 'Missing in Action'. Despite pouring criticisms on 'Slumdog', for flaunting India's underbelly to the west and obnoxiously poking the miserable lives of slum kids in Asia's biggest slum Dharavi, the movie had a stupendous response in the west for the novel theme. British director Danny Boyle fascinated with Vikash Swaroop's 'Q & A', made this rags-to-riches story which turned the cast into overnight stars and they are basking in the glory of success now. Media had a mighty feast in the past few weeks with controversial comments raging from every corner of India, including from celebrities Amitabh Bachchan, Priyadarshan and so on. Albeit the abounding slam, like Jamal of 'Slumdog Millionaire', the film won against all odds and triumphed with the prestigious BAFTA and Golden Globe awards. Rahman's 'Jai Ho' and 'O Saya' is pitted against 'Down to Earth' from the animated film 'Wall –E'. Original musical score of the film 'Defiance' will give a tough competition for 'Slumdog Millionaire', says forecasters. Rahman bagging the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) and Golden Globe award for best musical score is believed to be a rehearsal for the Oscars by most of the Indian people. Veteran Bengali Filmmaker Satyajit Ray's films made it to the nominations in the past and also Mira Nair's 'Salaam Bombay', a film made on slum kids was nominated too but didn't win the trophy. Bhanu Athaiya, was the last person from India to win the academy award for best costume design in the 1982 film, 'Gandhi' directed by a British filmmaker Richard Attenborough. Now, Danny Boyle has done the job and paved way for Indian talents to go global. AR Rahman composed the musical score and no one knew the film would reach such heights to become a worldwide head turner. In a recent interview, Rahman said that when he first landed in the U.S., to receive the critics' guild award, the media gladly left him out of the picture. After winning the Golden Globe, he was admitted amidst the film crew. Later, in the BAFTA's, he became an iconic image for the western magazines and everyone wanted to feature the Indian who's been winning all the way. Talent-wise Rahman sure stands tall and is unbeatable but is it destiny that lured the songster to this stage even though he had done even better compositions in the past. Was it the prophecy an astrologer foretold that he will go places at the age of 42? The big night for the west is now anticipated by the east and if we have winners from our side, the world's largest film consumer, India might commingle with the west to bring out world class movies. We will know it once the awards are announced on the Oscar Night to be held at Los Angeles on 22nd February. Let's keep our fingers crossed and wish the best of success for AR Rahman. * * <http://e.indiaglitz.com/ig/oscar/> *Watch A.R. Rahman Shares His Glorious Moments* http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/45172.html -- regards, Vithur
