From the slums of Mumbai to the glamorous world of Los Angeles, from villages in rural Kerala to the home of India’s Consul General in Vancouver, India and all of her friends are hollering a joyous "Jai Ho!" this week in celebration of Slumdog Millionaire’s astounding sweep at the Academy Awards.

In its colourful 81 year history, only seven other films have earned more golden statuettes than Slumdog Millionaire, an underdog going in to the annual global cinematic contest on Sunday.

The film won eight of its 10 nominations, including best motion picture.

Not bad for a low-budget Indie with no recognizable stars, with a third of its dialogue in Hindi and with a budget of only $13 million - a tenth of the production cost of its Hollywood rival, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

And while British director Danny Boyle would be carried across the sub-continent on the up stretched arms of an exultant population were he to land in India this week, for the first time three Indians nabbed the Oscar - considered the penultimate award in global cinema. For them, the ancient nation has yet to dry her tears of joy.

India’s music maestros A.R. Rahman and Resul Pookutty made history along with lyricist Gulzar and bagged three Oscars, as Indian music, Indian dance and Indian colours swept the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.

Rahman won twice, for best original score and best original song for the exuberant "Jai Ho" with Gulzar. Pookutty shared the award with two others for best sound mixing.

The rags-to-riches tale of a slum boy catapulted to national stardom on the turn of a game show also won best director, best adapted screenplay, best cinematography and best editing.

At the Indian Consulate in Vancouver this week, Slumdog Millionaire was the only topic of conversation.

"We are all happy particularly for Mr. A.R. Rahman, musician, and Mr. Resul Pookutty, sound engineer," said Consul General Ashok Das. "I would also like to congratulate the other Indian actors and technicians who have been a part of this winning team. At the same time, I would like to congratulate the makers of Smile Pinki."

Indeed, the India-themed Smile Pinki by American Megan Mylan, about a poor village girl whose cleft lip made her a social outcast, picked up an Oscar for best short documentary. Jai Ho!

According to Vancouver-based Indus Travels, North America’s leading tour operator to India, excitement for visiting India has rocketed along with Slumdog Millionaire’s popularity.

With the renewed interest among theatregoers that an Oscar win invariably brings, tour operators like Indus are bracing for a surge in overseas visits to India.
"More than 5.3 million people travelled to India in 2008 and industry figures show that number should expand by about seven per cent this year, despite the global economic turmoil," said Praveen Syal, managing director of Indus Travels. "I think Slumdog Millionaire is certainly responsible for some of that interest."

Simon Fraser University President Michael Stevenson, who presciently launched the Burnaby-based university’s India Initiative in 2006, a program forging strategic ties between SFU and the large, dynamic Indian diaspora in B.C., gushed of the Slumdog win: "This victory reflects the growing importance of India in the world, both culturally and economically."

For viewers at home Sunday, the true stars of India’s night at the Oscars were the six young child actors pulled from the slums of Mumbai and into the frame of Doyle’s ode to the city of joyous and jarring juxtapositions.

The ‘Slumdog family’ - all 50 of them - turned up at the glamorous ceremony.

The star-studded evening climaxed with much of the cast and crew on stage with producer Christian Colson as he accepted the best picture award.

"Together we’ve been on an extraordinary, extraordinary journey. When we started out, we had no stars, we had no power or muscle. We didn’t have enough money really to do what we wanted to do. But what we had was a script that has inspired mad love in everyone who read it," said Colson.

Also up on stage were 10-year-old Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and nine-year-old Rubina Ali, who played key roles in the movie and travelled from their homes in a Mumbai slum to the star-studded event.

Back home in the Garib Nagar slum, Azharuddin’s father said, his eyes welling up with tears: "Flowers have bloomed from the dirty gutters of Mumbai."

Celebrations broke out across India as Slumdog scored its octet of statuettes.

President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh echoed the mood as they congratulated the Oscar winners saying they had made India proud.

"It is not an award, but history being handed over to me," said Pookutty, who dedicated his award to his country.

Added Gulzar from Mumbai: "I never thought in the wildest of my dreams that Indian lyrics can ever win an Oscar."

In Pookutty’s home in Vilakupara village of Kerala, the mood was celebratory - and tearful too - as people crowded around a TV set in front of his house.

Two state ministers, an opposition leader, legislators and a raft of politicians have visited the village and the state government has decided to hold a public reception to honour Pookutty upon his return from Hollywood.

In Uttar Pradesh, too, little Pinki was the toast of her village Rampur Dabai.

"It’s an honour for all of us that a poor girl has put this village on the international map," village head Pradeep Vishwakarma commented.

Meanwhile, Slumdog Millionaire has been made a tax-free film in the state of Maharashtra and in New Delhi.

"We salute the true heroes of achieving India who are at their best in Slumdog Millionaire. It’s a film of India, for India and by India," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

Back in Vancouver, Mahmood Poonja of Bestway Tours & Safaris said Slumdog’s sweep will boost interest in India.

"The timing and theme location of the movie could not have been better," said Poonja. "After the terrorist attack in Mumbai of November 2008, India needed a booster . . . people from across the world and from different walks of life have now an image of India that they will remember for a long time to come."

Poonja said Slumdog’s gritty portrayal of Mumbai’s slums will have a positive effect on the lives of some of the planet’s poorest citizens.

"There will be a major impact on the slums as money is going to flow in," he explained. "This may be from the city and state administrators who may now feel ashamed that the poverty has been exposed and worse made into a movie theme."

Poonja further predicted that philanthropists and "patriotic Indians" in India and abroad will be motivated to assist the hundreds of thousands of residents who call the slums of Mumbai home.

"The other impact that this movie may create is the increase of ‘voluntourism’ to India," added Poonja.

The echoes of "Jai Ho!" will eventually fade, but the impact Slumdong Millionaire has on India, and on the slums of Mumbai, will be positive and permanent.