President Pratibha Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari, music director A R Rahman and noted lyricist Gulzar on Sunday watched the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire at the Rashtrapati Bhavan auditorium in New Delhi.
Oscar awardee Resul Pookuty and Vikas Swarup, on whose novel Q and A the movie is based, also attended the screening. According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson, the two-hour-long special screening was exclusively organised for the President and restricted for selected invitees.
Slumdog Millionaire had bagged eight Oscars earlier this year at the 81st Academy Awards.
"The film reminds us about the lives of the people. It is really a thought-provoking movie," Rahman, who along with Gulzar won the Oscar for Best Original Song Jai Ho in the movie, told reporters after the screening.
The special show of Slumdog Millionaire in Hindi was also attended by Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Union Tourism Minister Kumari Selja, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed and Central Bureau of Investigations director Ashwani Kumar, among others.
The rags-to-riches story of a slum-dweller in Mumbai, who goes on to win Rs two crore in a reality game show, has been directed by Danny Boyle.