Happiness is Winning an Oscar!

I watched the Academy Awards on Sunday nite and was, of course, THRILLED when Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture.  I loved the book (Q&A) and I wrote two posts about the movie back in December when I first saw it.
I had to stay up past my bedtime to watch them open the envelope , and I was happy to have lost the sleep.  When the movie was announced, pandemonium broke out in the corner of the Kodak theatre where the Slumdog cheering section was located.  The producer, so excited about the film’s nomination, had flown the entire cast from India to Hollywood for the event.
And why not?  At one point no studio wanted to pick up the movie, so it almost went straight to DVD.  This was a low-budget film cast with unknown actors and with a crew of indie film folks from England, India, and Australia.  No one associated with the film had “credentials” outside of the Producer and Director (both past Oscar winners).  So for most of them, this was a first (and probably once) in a lifetime thrill.
They all crowded onto the stage for the acceptance speech, and their excitement was infectious.
A.R. Rahman, who 15 minutes earlier had won Oscars for best score and best song, said the movie — set in the squalor of Mumbai’s slums — was about hope and optimism.  I thought he had one of the best lines of the evening, when he said, “All my life, I’ve had a choice of hate and love.  I chose love, and I’m here.”
In turbulent times like we live in today, movies remind us that people can experience horrible things and still endure, that underdogs sometimes do win, and that happy endings are still possible.  🙂