Once the last of the applause has died down and the last handshake and autograph has been signed, then what? Will life for 10-yr-old Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and 9-year-old Rubina Ali, better known as Jamaal and Latika, the protagonists of Slumdog Millionaire, return to normal? Normal life for Azharuddin is a lean-to made of tarpaulin and blankets and for Rubina, it’s a bubblegum -pink shack right next to a murky open sewer and their school is Aseema, a non-profit English language school for underpriviledged children. Remember, this is a school where only half of the kids make it through high school; the rest receive some vocational training.

But I shudder to think of the trauma of the realisation these kids will go through when their 15 minutes are up and the teams of journalists with their cameras and note books no longer want to write about them.

It has happened to the best of them — this industry of lights and glamour will suddenly one day pick you up and catapult you to the highest heaven and then, almost as suddenly, drop you to the dark depths of reality. It takes a very strong person to handle such instant fame, and I have seen the strongest crumble when faced with the fact that you are no longer popular or “in demand”.

As the media quietly dumps them for the next darling of the headlines, what happens to these kids? Apparently their fee (which is an undisclosed sum) has been put into a trust which will mature when they turn 18, but I honestly don’t think film producers will be queing up outside their doors to sign them on. Hopefully television will snap them up and keep them in the lime light — they may be able to get a couple of public appearances and maybe some agency signs them up for an advertising campaign. Meanwhile they are accumulating a nice bank balance.

Whatever happens, I wish these kids all the very best and most importantly a very happy childhood.

Meanwhile, the controversy around the term ‘Slum Dog seems to have hit home, for Rahman at least. Apparently the politically correct term is now ‘SD Millionaire’ with the harsh words Slum Dog replaced with a cooler sounding SD.

With all the hoopla around the Oscars (AR Rahman for Best Original Score and Best Song and Resul Pookooty for Best Sound Mixing,) I thought a quiet salaam was due to India’s previous Oscar winners — Satyajit Ray received an Honourary Academy award (for contribution to World Cinema) in 1992. This award has been given to the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, Robert Redford, Warner Bros and Deborrah Kerr among others — so I guess that makes it really special. Also, one must not forget Bhanu Athaiya who shared an Oscar with John Mollo for the movie Gandhi (1982) for Costume Design.

And as the curtains come down on this years Oscars, the question arises: Can we in India do it? Will a day come when a true blue Indian film — made by Indians about India for Indians — actually make it to the Oscars? I very much doubt it but sochne mein kya harz hai!

Ken K Ghosh is a film maker