Slumdog sweeps BAFTA

by H S RAO
Posted on 2009-02-10
LONDON - ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, the feel good film about a Mumbai tea-boy, swept the BAFTA awards when it won seven prizes including the Best Music Score for Indian composer A R Rahman and the Best Film at the prestigious award function here.
The Danny Boyle-directed film was nominated under 11 categories and won seven, including the Best Director for Danny Boyle, Best Adapted Screenplay for Simon Beaufoy and Best Sound Editing for Indian sound technician Resul Pookutty at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
The underdog winner story with Indian cast and crew is a strong favourite to win awards at the Oscars on February 22, where it has been nominated under 10 categories.
“It’s getting better and better and let’s hope for the biggest one -- the Oscars,” said Rahman after winning the award, which were held at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden.
Boyle said the award was for Mumbai. “We are hugely indebted for everybody honoured and those who were nominated tonight, to the people of Mumbai especially the actors Anil and Irrfan and all the other young actors who helped us -- Ayush and Azhar,” said Boyle after accepting the award for Best director.
British-Indian Dev Patel and Indian actress Frieda Pinto were also nominated for the Best Actor category and Best Supporting Actress but lost.