Rubina Ali, the 9-year old actress who played the young Latika in Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire, will soon publish her autobiography under UK’s Transworld Publishers and Random House Children’s Books. Both publishing houses are divisions of Random House Group Ltd.

Her book will detail her impoverished childhood, as well as her recently earned international fame. To be released in July, the book’s royalties will be split between the little girl and Medecins du Monde, a French medical aid organization.

Along with her young co-stars, Rubina Ali was found by Slumdog director Danny Boyle in the Mumbai slums of India and cast in the movie. For her month’s work on the film, Rubina was paid £500.

Less than a month ago, the shanty where Rubina grew up in was torn down by Mumbai authorities. The incident came less than a week after the demolition of the slum dwelling of her Slumdog co-star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail.

In April, Rubina’s father denied the allegations that he tried to sell her for $290,000.

The producers of Slumdog Millionaire have reportedly set up trust funds called the Jai Ho Trust for the movie child actors’ education and healthcare, as well as pledged to help in their housing needs.

Rubina Ali is cast in the upcoming Bollywood film Kal Kisne Dekha.

The 9-year old’s autobiographical book is entitled “Slumgirl Dreaming: My Journey to the Stars.”

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Via BBC

The Reader is the haunting story of a former Nazi death camp guard. Kate Winslet plays the disturbing role, and did she do a good job or did she do a good job! Her awesome performance won her the Oscar Award for the Best Actress category. The story revolves around her penchant for reading, the guilt of being a Nazi death camp guard, and the passionate and forbidden relationship she has with a 15 year old boy.

She is later put on trial for war crimes. The movie is of exceptional significance today as the rise of hatred and neo-Nazis is increasingly gaining ground. Kate Winslet got lucky the sixth time and also admitted to being nervous and anxious before the awards were given out.

It is now being termed as ‘Oscar Phobia’. Kate Winslet certainly deserved the award and her previous five nominations failed to win any awards. Nevertheless, this one award is enough to prove the acting genius the she is. I would say, Oscar 2009 could have been better but the only consolations were the various awards given to deserving candidates like Kate Winslet.

Via: TheAustralian

Sean Penn won the Best Actor award for his role in Milk and why not! Sean Penn is one of the most respected and talented actors around and James Franco’s role in Milk is quite great too! In fact, it was a surprise win for Sean Penn and most expected Brad Pitt to win. It is pleasing to see Sean win the award for Brad has got more attention than he deserved in his life.

Both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had to walk back home empty handed. Sean Penn plays the role of a gay rights activist and it is quite relevant too when the states of U.S.A are locked in a bitter feud about legalizing gay marriages.

Sean Penn described his win as a slap in the face to all those people who voted against gay marriages and that now they can sit back and ponder over their mistake and regret for not voting for legalizing the gay marriages. Surely, Sean Penn deserved the award for his challenging and controversial role and his speech at the Oscar was quite thought provoking too!

Via: Welt

Perhaps it was only because Heath Ledger won the posthumous Best Supporting Actor award, that I can still feel a sense of respect for the Oscar Awards. The Academy Awards have been shadowed by unnecessary awards given certain movies while good movies were ignored.

Heath Ledger’s movie ‘Brokeback Mountain’ won a number of academy awards and I must say, that movie was fan better than the one that hogged 8 awards this time. Heath Ledger tragically passed away but his contributions to the world of movies and art will be eternal. The Best Supporting Actor award given to Heath Ledger for his role in The Dark Knight was one of the deserved appreciations for someone as legendary as Heath.

In such a short life, one couldn’t call an actor legendary, but Heath Ledger certainly became a legend himself, thanks to his talent, persona and on-screen presence. The Academy Awards have been slipping in popularity and that could be attributed to wrong decisions and choices in awarding. This year, Sean Penn, Penelope Cruz and Heath Ledger were some of the few who rightfully deserved the awards.

Via: PopWatch

Slumdog Millionaire, the Indian rag-to-riches story bagged 8 Oscars, at the 81st Annual Academy Award. It won Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Music, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Background Score, Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay. Although Slumdog had Oscar written all over it, Danny Boyle, the director of this film was quite cynical in his recent interview.

However, alls well that ends well. Moreover, with a totally unknown casts, Slumdog did indeed defied the conventional wisdom with its phenomenal success. The heroic triumph of an underdog in Mumbai against all the possible odds is one of the most captivating plots of the film. A blend of upbeat message of the film and its harsh reality of life in Mumbai is indeed, hard to miss.

The Indian Mozart, A R Rahman won two Oscars for best score and best song, added yet another feather to his cap. Danny Boyle accepted the award for the best-picture surrounded by the actors, casts and some children from the slums of Mumbai. The story of Jamal, the romance, and the heart wrenching realities of the slums in Mumbai has dazzled many. Mumbai slums is already a must visit for many foreign tourists. Slumdog Millionaire was a well deserved winner!

Via: CanberraTimes

Finally it did happen, and Slumdog Millionaire did hog all the Oscar Awards. The movie grabbed awards for Best Motion Picture, Best Director (Danny Boyle), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Film Editing and also two awards for the Indian music director of the movie. A.R Rahman won two awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song (Jai Ho) and I must say I am pretty surprised myself. The music was not exceptionally great and there might have been more genuine candidates for the award.

Now before we feel consumed by Slumdog Millionaire, let us take a look at the other movies which managed to find some space in the awardees list. Best Actor award went to Sean Penn for his role in Milk. This movie was so hilarious with James Franco. Unfortunately, the movie won only one more award for Best Original Screenplay. Kate Winslet won the best actress award for her role in The Reader.

Late Heath Ledger won the much deserved Best Supporting Actor award for his role in The Dark Knight. Penelope Cruz won the best supporting actress for her role in the movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Japan won the best foreign film for Departures. The Best Animated Feature Film went out to WALL-E. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button won the Best Art Direction Award. Best Sound Editing again went to The Dark Knight. The Duchess won the Best Costume Award and The Man on Wire won the Best Documentary Feature. Best Documentary for Short Subject was given to Smile Pinki.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button also won the Best Makeup Award. La Maison en Petits Cubes won the Best Animated Short Film. Best Live Action Short Film was won by Speilzeugland (Toyland). The Best Visual Effects were again given to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award was given to Jerry Lewis who would get the Oscar Statuette. Also, the Gordon E. Sawyer Award was given to Pixar Animation co-founder Ed Catmull.

In spite of Slumdog Millionaire hogging all the awards, the function was still a gala affair with many good movies like Milk and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Dark Knight winning awards. What did not convince me were the awards given in the category of Best Original Score and Best Original Song. Perhaps there were other deserving candidates who were just ignored! Nevertheless, that is what I feel, but others are free to feel what they want to!

Via: Oscar

The biggest question that is hanging on everyone’s head is whether Slumdog Millionaire will win it at the Oscars or not. The music director of the movie Rahman feels if the movie wins at the Oscars, it will lead to ‘bigger things‘. In my opinion, it surely shall lead to bigger things with respect to Indian names abroad.

Some people even feel that ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ will take the suspense out of Oscars. Moreover, the movie is closing in on Oscars glory. Oscar host Jackson feels he is chosen for his apparent sense of occasion, whatever that means and bling is something that is always associated with this ceremony. With so much of hopes and aspirations of so many people tied to this single movie, one would actually feel sorry if it didn’t win anything. Moreover it is entering the home stretch.

We will know how many the movie will win or if it doesn’t win anything at all. Whatever the case might be, there might be less hyped, better movies in other languages, maybe from Europe or Latin America whose directors are not blessed with the kind of Public Relations activity Slumdog Millionaire is blessed with. Let us just wait and watch what is going to happen.