If experts are to be believed, critically acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire is at 2-7 odds of winning the prestigious Academy Award for the Best Motion Picture.
The film, which has won four Golden Globe Awards and has garnered 10 nominations at the Oscars, tracks the story of Jamal Malik, a dirt-poor orphan from the slums who astonishes India when he does well on the country's version of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?'
Indian music composer A R Rahman has been nominated for original score while director Danny Boyle is a nominee in Best Director category.
Damian Smee, film expert from William Hill, one of the largest bookmakers in the UK, has been compiling Oscar odds for 27 years and picks up the winner 'eight times out of ten'.
He said that Slumdog Millionaire is at 2-7 odds of winning the Oscars while The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is at 4-1 odds.
Boyle is at 4-9 odds of winning the Oscars for the Best Director compared to 7-2 for David Fincher, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, 8-1 for Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon, 8-1 for Stephen Daldry, The Reader, and 10-1 for Gus Van Sant, Milk.
Kate Winslet has 8-15 odds of winning the Best actress award for The Reader, while Anne Hathaway is at 8-15 odds of winning for Rachel Getting Married.
Angelina Jolie (Changeling) and Meryl Streep (Doubt) are at 8-1 odds of winning the gong.
Mickey Rourke's role as retired professional wrestler Randy in The Wrestler puts him at the highest odds of winning the Academy Award for Best Actor with 4-6 odds.
Brad Pitt has 14-1 odds of winning award for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, while Sean Penn is at 6-4 odds of winning the gong.
'The biggest prizes have never looked as settled as they do this year,' Times Online quoted a spokesman for the betting company as saying.
'There's normally at least two contenders for each award but this year the favourites are all nailed on,' he added.
Text: ANI
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