Slumdog Millionaire music wins Rahman Satellite Award

Washington: Noted Indian music director A R Rahman has added a Satellite Award to his Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score for his music in British director Danny Boyle's uplifting underdog tale Slumdog Millionaire.

Apart from Rahman's award, the Mumbai set and shot film has won two more annual Satellite Awards given by the International Press Academy for Best Picture-Drama and Best Director for Boyle.

The film tells the heart warming story of an 18-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai who goes on to win a staggering Rs 20 million ($420,000) on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" game show.

Slumdog Millionaire has also tied with 'WALL.E', a computer-animated-science fiction-romance film, for the Best Picture award from the Boston Society of Film Critics, besides winning the Best Editing prize.

Named as one of the Top 10 films of 2008 by Associated Press movie writer David Germain, ranking at number four, Slumdog Millionaire has also won four EDA (Excellent Dynamic Activism) Awards from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ), including Best Film and Best Direction.

The awards are named in honor of AWFJ founder Jennifer Merin's mother, Eda Reiss Merin, a stage, film and television actress whose career spanned more than 60 years.

With a total gross of $8,073,000 and a weekend gross of $2,200,000, up 57 percent from last weekend, Slumdog Millionaire remained in the North American Top 12 for a fourth consecutive weekend despite playing in a limited number of theatres.

It will on Friday expand from 169 to 500 theaters in all major cities across North America.

The film has also earned three other nominations for Best Picture-Drama, Best Director for Boyle and Best Screenplay for Simon Beaufoy for 2008 Golden Globe Awards given by Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Earlier last week, Slumdog Millionaire won two awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association - Best Director for Boyle and Best Music for Rahman. It also won the runner-up prize for Best Cinematography for Anthony Dod Mantle.

The film has also won the Best Cinematography prize from The New York Film Critics' Circle and earned six Critics Choice Award nominations for Picture, Director (Boyle), Writer (Beaufoy), Young Actor (Dev Patel), Composer (Rahman), and Song ("Jai Ho").