PM congratulates ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and ‘Smile Pinki’ teams

August 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lok Sabha Speaker, Meira Kumar, on Monday felicitated artistes of Oscar winning 'Slumdog Millionaire' before the movie was screened for the lawmakers. A special screening of the movie was held for members of both the houses.

July 8th, 2009 RAMPUR - Despite all claims and promises made to improve her life, Pinki Sonkar, protagonist of the short documentary 'Smile Pinki', which won an Oscar, continues to live in stark poverty in her village, Rampur. Unlike stars of Slumdog millionaire, Azharrudin Ismail and Rubina Ali, who received all the media attention and recently houses in Mumbai, Pinki is living a miserable life.

March 18th, 2009 BEIJING - 'Slumdog Millionaire', the Academy Award-winning best picture of the year, will hit Chinese screens March 26, an official said Wednesday. 'The movie will be available at cinemas nationwide,' said Zhang Xiaosong, an official with the China Film Group Corporation (CFGC).

March 8th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Eight-year-old Pinki Sonkar, the protagonist of Megan Mylan's Oscar-winning documentary 'Smile Pinki', will publicly expose the 'anti-Dalit face' of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, the National Dalit Front (NDF) said Saturday. 'With the help of Pinki we are now going to unmask the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government, which only pretends to fight for Dalit rights,' NDF general secretary Udit Raj told IANS on telephone from New Delhi.

February 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Farmer Rajender Sonkar Friday said he would ensure that his daughter, eight-year-old Pinki, becomes a doctor. For it was surgery that transformed the cleft-lipped girl and made her the protagonist of the Oscar winning film 'Smile Pinki'.

February 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - After a heart-warming reception here on their return from Los Angeles, the team of Oscar-winning documentary 'Smile Pinki' met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur Friday. 'Smile Pinki', which has bagged the best short documentary Oscar, is a 39-minute documentary made by American filmmaker Megan Mylan on the problems faced by a little girl called Pinki till she underwent surgery for her cleft lip.

February 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The teams of Oscar winning films 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'Smile Pinki' - both of which were based in India - were Tuesday praised in the Lok Sabha, with Speaker Somnath Chatterjee terming the success of composer A.R. Rahman, lyricist Gulzar and sound technician Resul Pookutty as 'a historic achievement'.

February 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI/CHENNAI - Composer A.R. Rahman and sound designer Resul Pookutty had made India proud with their three Oscars, President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday as congratulations poured in following the sweep by 'Slumdog Millionaire' at the Academy Awards.

February 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee Monday congratulated Gulzar, A.R. Rahman, Resul Pookutty of the 'Slumdog Millionaire' and the team of 'Smile Pinky' for having brought laurels to the nation by winning Oscars.

February 24th, 2009 BRUSSELS - European Union Monday congratulated the makers of the film 'Slumdog Millionaire' which won eight Oscars at the 81st Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood. The film was co-funded under the EU's film support programme MEDIA.

February 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lavishing praise on 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'Smile Pinki' for winning the much-coveted Oscars, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Anand Sharma Monday said it was 'the finest hour of Indian cinema' on the global stage. The minister congratulated the 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'Smile Pinky' team for winning the prestigious Oscar Awards, the information and broadcasting ministry said in a statement Monday.

February 23rd, 2009 LOS ANGELES - Starry-eyed, excited and wearing little tuxedos and dresses for the first time, a motley of Indian slum kids from Academy award winning 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'Smile Pinki' walked the Oscar red carpet with panache despite the stark contrast between their everyday living and the glitzy event. It was a fairytale experience for nine-year-old Rubina Ali and 10-year-old Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, who starred in Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire'.

February 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - 'Slumdog Millionaire', 'The Final Inch', 'Smile Pinki'... in a first, three India themed films up for the Oscars, and all three dealing with poverty and disease! India's poverty is under the global spotlight as never before with the blockbuster 'Slumdog Millionaire', tracing the rags to riches story of a slum boy, and the two documentaries, 'The Final Inch' focusing on the country's battle with polio and 'Smile Pinki' about a young child who can't get a cleft lip surgery because she is too poor.

February 13th, 2009 LONDON - British-Irish director Danny Boyle has won praises and Oscar nominations for 'Slumdog Millionaire' but his father slept through the movie. Patrick Boyle, 88, believes the highly praised, India-based drama is not his son's best offering and prefers Danny's debut 1995 release 'Shallow Grave' over it, Contactmusic.com reports.

January 8th, 2009 MUMBAI - Danny Boyle's internationally applauded 'Slumdog Millionaire' will have an odd-sounding title for its Hindi dubbed version - 'Slumdog Crorepati'. The intended Hindi title 'Slumdog Millionaire: Kaun Banega Crorepati' was shortened, thanks to copyright issues by the producers of the international game show 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'.