Slumdog Millionaire wins Best Music at BAFTA's

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The music for Slumdog Millionaire by A. R. Rahman (pictured) won Best Music at the BAFTA awards in London last night. The other nominations were The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by Alexandre Desplat, The Dark Knight by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, Mamma Mia! by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and WALL-E by Thomas Newman.

This award was no surprise. Slumdog Millionaire is a rags to riches story all its own, a "Bollywood" film that is taking Hollywood, and the world, by storm. The beauty of the score by A. R. Rahman is it includes filmic elements adding to the ambiance of the setting and action along with songs from both of the Bollywood variety and of the Western counter part. Throughout the film the music captures both a sense of being in India, but never feels so foreign that a Western audience is left out of touch. Quite the opposite, the music draws in people from all cultures into the film.

The list of nominations is slightly different for the Academy Awards, but Slumdog Millionaire is certainly the front runner for that one too.

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