By IANS,
New Delhi : It was a red-letter day for India at the Oscars when “Slumdog Millionaire” took away eight awards, showcasing India’s soft power, and the day is not far when Indian director would get one, said Home Minister P. Chidambaram Tuesday.
“We should not underestimate India’s soft power. It was a red-letter day for India yesterday (Monday),” said Chidambaram while giving away the annual National Tourism Awards 2007-08 in various segments of travel and tourism industry.
He said, “‘Slumdog Millionaire’ may not be an Indian film. But the nation of a billion people has adopted it as an India film. How long will it take for an Indian film produced by an Indian and directed by an Indian director to bag the Oscar?”
“It will not be very long. We should not underestimate India’s soft power,” he added.
The home minister said India has a wide variety to showcase its soft power, which includes arts, music, films and Bollywood among others.
British director Danny Boyle’s hit film not only won the Oscars for best picture and best director at Sunday night’s annual Academy Awards ceremony at Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, US, but also in six other categories including two for Indian music Maestro A.R. Rahman.
Rahman picked up the awards for his best original score and also for the best original song “Jai ho” from the film with lyrics by Gulzar and Sukhwinder Singh as the lead singer.
Resul Pookutty shared the Oscar with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke in the sound mixing category for the rags-to-riches film.