"I was sweating, I think, more than Christian Colson, the producer and Danny Boyle," Kapoor adds, chuckling even more. "On the screen, there was the excerpt showing Dev Patel and me. I knew we were on the world stage but even then I wondered what the final outcome would be."

Colson had told him (and the other cast members and crew) that if the film wins the final accolade, they should all be on the stage.

"When Spielberg said Slumdog, I raced to the stage. I did not even wait to hear the word Millionaire," Kapoor says.

"I looked around and saw these kids, some of them coming from the poorest conditions, sharing the world stage, watched by millions across the globe. I felt immense pride for them, and the entire Indian film fraternity. I thought I had died and gone to heaven."

He says he found out later that there are just about seven films in the eight decades of Oscar history that have won eight or more Oscars. He is surely aware that the film has created quite a bit of controversy in India, and a British journalist called it 'poverty porn.'

"I am not worried over the criticism as long as it is not personal and is not maliciously intended," he says. "If everyone liked an award-worthy film, it would be a very boring world. The debate, and even the opposition to the film by a few, is exciting. It is the vigour of Indian society that we discuss these things freely."

And it is the generosity of the Indian people, he asserts, that the film had done extraordinary business. Just because the film had not done the kind of business the popular masala movies do in India, he continues, did not mean it wasn't a hit in India.

"I am told it grossed Rs 50 crores (Rs 500 million) in India," he says. "A few years ago, a film of this kind could have made just about Rs 15 lakhs (Rs 1.5 million). Audience tastes in India have been improving considerably. People, who liked the film in India, are admiring it like their counterparts across the world as a story of optimism, of a young man beating the odds, and yet retaining the purity in his heart."

He had brought the rights to remake the film in Hindi. "When Fox Searchlight decided to dub it in Hindi and they did an excellent job, I decided to let the version stay."

"Now the whole world has given its verdict, and Slumdog is doing India proud all over the world," he added. "It has put India in the hearts of millions. Let us not fail to celebrate."

Photograph: Manav Manglani/Reuters

Listen: Ghajini songs
Also See: 'Dev Patel ne mujhe apne haathon se khilaya'

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