Mumbai - Bleary-eyed Indian cinema fans had several reasons to celebrate as the Oscars were announced in Los Angeles. Eight awards went to Mumbai-based rags-to-riches story Slumdog Millionaire, including two for music composer AR Rahman and one for sound engineer Resul Pookutty.
Adding icing to the cake was the best documentary (short) award for Smile Pinki, a film about efforts to bring relief to thousands of Indian children born with cleft-lip deformity.
"Rahman has won international recognition with this film. We have always known he is versatile, talented and brilliant," said Bollywood actor Amir Khan.
Khan said the award for Pukutty was also a recognition of the talented and expert technicians of the Indian film industry.
Indian President Pratibha Patel sent a congratulatory message to Rahman as his fans in Mumbai, his home town Chennai and across India celebrated.
Slumdog Millionaire, which director Danny Boyle has said foremost stars the gritty spirit of the city of Mumbai, won best film and best director award as well.
Mumbai, India's financial hub, is home to the country's most-rich and famous and has some of its largest slums, which form the backdrop of much of Slumdog Millionaire.
Two of the film's child actors live in one of the slums where the film was shot.
Friends and relatives of Azharuddin Ismail and Rubina Ali were up from the wee hours of Monday watching the ceremony.
The children were in Los Angeles for the ceremony. "Its Allah's grace," said Rubina's proud father Rafiq Qureshi. "I'll take drummers to meet her at the airport and give her her favourite chicken biryani."
Their one-room tenement in the slum was crowded with television crews and journalists.
Asghar's mother accompanied him to the Oscars. His father Ismail Usman Mohammed beamed proudly in their home - which comprises some plastic sheets against a wall.
"Some young children have made India proud. Now I will be known as a hero's father and not the ladki-wala Usman," he said.
Usman collects old timber and furniture and sells them as scrap for a living.
"Just watching Rahman on stage saying he had his mother with him. The very Indian song-dance sequence led by Rahman. Those children up there. It was a great moment for us in India," said Nayanika Angre, a worker at an information technology firm very like the one at which Jamaal, the young protagonist of Slumdog, made tea.
