Slumdog Millionaire, a British movie with overwhelmingly Indian content and backdrop, has emerged the big winner at the 66th Golden Globes. It scooped four awards to underline its credentials ahead of next month’s Oscar awards.

Ironically, on a star-studded night in Beverly Hills, it was the rags-to-riches love story about an orphan who fights his way out of Mumbai slums on an Indian television game show that triumphed. The film, featuring a cast of virtual unknowns, picked up honours for composer A.R. Rahman, British director Danny Boyle (Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Director) and Simon Beaufoy (Best Screen Play).

Rahman, once labelled ‘Mozart of Madras’ by Time, became the first Indian to win the Golden Globe, for Best Original Music Score with ‘Jai Ho’. He thus brought a new round of international recognition to a country whose rich classical traditions have inspired oeuvres of global music.

Based on Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup’s novel Q and A, the film depicts the heart-warming story of an orphan, Jamal, who goes on to win the Indian version of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’ in an effort to win his love back. The film stars Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor as the show host and British Indian Dev Patel in the lead role of Jamal. Like its magical underdog-winner story, the film which was made on a small budget, has turned out a big winner by virtually dominating the pre-Oscar award scene.

Australian actor Heath Ledger earned a posthumous Golden Globe for his performance in Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight while British star Kate Winslet won two awards for best drama actor and supporting actor.

This year’s Globes red carpet read like a who’s who of the movie industry’s A-list. Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio were just a handful of the A-listers in attendance at the Beverly Hilton.

The film is to be released on January 12, the same day his first Tamil film (as director) Pokkiri, was released two years ago. The movie went on to become a blockbuster.

Ask the director why the project has been christened Villu and Prabhu Deva nonchalantly replies, “My hero is like a villu (bow) with a taut string that enables an arrow to hit the bull’s eye with precision. In our mythology, the ambu (arrow) and villu were weapons used by celestial beings.”

Draw his attention to the fact that his fans are eager to know about the story of the film and he smiles. “When an arrow is dispatched from a bow, it races to its target. Similarly, my hero travels from his village to the city and from there to foreign lands and finally zeroes in on his target,” he says and goes on to explain that his film falls under the action-adventure genre.
“I would say that it will be Vijay’s first Bond kind of film.

There is action, chases through air, water and land, exotic locales, light-hearted romance, comedy and one-liners. All this packaged with typical Tamil sentiments and a stunning climax, with a surprise element and twist.” There have been rumours that the story has been inspired by Abbas Mastan’s Soldier. Ask him about it and he replies, “Any film in Indian cinema will have a reference to an earlier film. The basic story thread of all our commercial movies is from the Ramayana or Mahabharatha.” So, does he think Villu will be able to get the same kind of reception that Pokkiri got? Says he, “I think it is the perfect Pongal mass entertainer, and should work big time at the box-office. All of us have worked very hard and by God’s grace, it has come out well. I leave the rest to the audience. The Vijay magic plus the songs, action and comedy will be the highlights of the film.”

Aamir Khan’s Ghajini has smashed all records by grossing over Rs 100 crore in one week.

“Historic Hit in 14 minutes and 52 seconds,” read the posters across the city.

“Ghajini has had the biggest box office opening and collections this year. It is the first movie to cross more than 100 crores in a week. The collections, as of 31st December, were Rs 140 crores and we are still counting,” said the spokesperson for Ghajini.

The audience seem to have given the movie a thumbs up even though the critics do not think too much of it.

“The poster reads 14 minutes and 52 seconds because Aamir loses his memory every 14 minutes and 52 seconds. The money Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi earned in 3 weeks, Ghajini took a week to earn,” she added. Here is what Aamir had to say on the success of his film: “I am very happy that Ghajini has broken so many records. Numbers don’t matter to me as people’s appreciation is more important. I was really stressed before the release, especially with the case, but everything’s going well now.”