Los Angeles, California:

Full list of winners at the 81st Academy Awards, held in Los Angeles. Best picture: Slumdog Millionaire Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Frost/Nixon; Milk; The Reader Best director: Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire Also nominated: Stephen Daldry - The Reader; David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon; Gus Van Sant - Milk Best actor: Sean Penn - Milk Also nominated: Richard Jenkins - The Visitor; Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon; Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler Best actress: Kate Winslet - The Reader Also nominated: Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married; Angelina Jolie - Changeling; Melissa Leo - Frozen River; Meryl Streep - Doubt Best supporting actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight Also nominated: Josh Brolin - Milk; Robert Downey Jr - Tropic Thunder; Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt; Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road Best supporting actress: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona Also nominated: Amy Adams - Doubt; Viola Davis - Doubt; Taraji P Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler Best original screenplay: Milk Also nominated: Happy-Go-Lucky; Wall-E; In Bruges; Frozen River Best adapted screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Doubt; Frost/Nixon; The Reader Best animated feature film: Wall-E Also nominated: Bolt; Kung Fu Panda Best animated short film: La Maison en Petits Cubes Also nominated: Lavatory - Lovestory; Oktapodi; Presto; This Way Up Best foreign language film: Departures - Japan Also nominated: Revanche - Austria; The Class - France; The Baader Meinhof Complex - Germany; Waltz With Bashir - Israel Best documentary feature: Man on Wire Also nominated: The Betrayal; Encounters at the End of the World; The Garden; Trouble The Water Best documentary short subject: Smile Pinki Also nominated: The Conscience of Nhem En; The Final Inch; The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306 Art direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Also nominated: Changeling; The Dark Knight; The Duchess; Revolutionary Road Costume design: The Duchess Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Australia; Milk; Revolutionary Road Make-up: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Also nominated: The Dark Knight; Hellboy II: The Golden Army Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Changeling; The Dark Knight; The Reader Best live action short film: Spielzeugland (Toyland) Also nominated: Auf der Strecke (On The Line); Manon on the Asphalt; New Boy; The Pig Visual effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Also nominated: The Dark Knight; Iron Man Sound editing: The Dark Knight Also nominated: Iron Man; Wanted; Slumdog Millionaire; Wall-E Sound mixing: Slumdog Millionaire Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Wanted; Wall-E Film editing:Slumdog Millionaire Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Frost/Nixon; Milk Best original score: Slumdog Millionaire Also nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Defiance; Milk; Slumdog Millionaire; Wall-E Best original song: Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire Also nominated: Down To Earth - Wall-E; O Saya - Slumdog Millionaire

ACADEMY AWARDS OSCARS 2008-09 SWEPT By Slumdog Millionaire
Music director A R Rahman Bags Two Oscars as does Resul Kutty for Sound Mixing/Editing
The glitzy Academy awards- OSCARS- this year were a bit predictable as the Feel Good ( with a bit of controversy) picture SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE captured 8 Oscars.


COMPLETE LIST OF OSCAR WINNERS  HERE
Barring Penelope Cruz for Best supporting Actress and perhaps Sean Penn for Best Actor in Milk- the rest awardees were as expected.
QUOTES

RESUL POOKUTTY  Sound Mixing/Editing This is unbelievable. We can't believe this. Ladies and gentlemen... sorry... I share the stage with two magicians, you know, who created the very ordinary sounds of Bombay, the cacophony of Bombay, into a soul-stirring, artful resonance called Slumdog Millionaire. I come from a country and a civilization that given the universal word. That word is preceded by silence, followed by more silence. That word is 'Om.' So I dedicate this award to my country. Thank you, Academy, this is not just a sound award, this is history being handed over to me. My sincere and deepest gratitude to my teachers, Danny Boyle [Images], Christian Colson, Paul Ritchie, Pravesh... and everybody who has contributed to this film, Glenn Freemantle and all the sound mixers. I dedicate this to you guys. Thank you, Academy. Thank you very much. ( Along with Richard Pryke, Ian Tapp)

A R RAHMAN  2 Oscars- Best Song  (Jai Ho) and Original score Before coming, I was excited and terrified. The last time I felt like that was during my marriage. There's a dialogue from a Hindi film called "Mere paas ma hai," which means "I have nothing but I have a mother," so mother's here, her blessings are there with me. I am grateful for her to have come all the way. And I want to thank the Academy for being so kind, all the jury members. I want to thank Sam Schwartz, I/D PR, all the crew of Slumdog, Mr Gulzar, Raqueeb Alam, Blaaze, my musicians in Chennai and Mumbai [Images]. And I want to tell something in Tamil, which says, which I normally say after every award which is...  "God is great."   Thank you.

"Smile Pinki" wins Oscar for Best Documentary Short
The short documentary "Smile Pinki" focuses on a girl in rural India whose cleft lip has made her a social outcast, has a chance for a new life when she meets a dedicated social worker who helped change her life by setting her up with a program called Smile Train an NGO which offers free corrective surgery.
A real life person Pinki Sonkar, an Indian girl is the focus of the film on children born with cleft palates  Smile Train is the NGO program that provides free corrective surgery. The documentary is about Pinki’s transformation, from her village in rural Northern Uttar Pradesh to the hospital and back home again.
The film's director is US Based Megan Mylan and is a first time Oscar winner.
Pinki Sonkar was ALSO at the Oscars in Los Angeles and missed the glare of Hollywood celebrities and celebrations on Feb 22 – most of whom focused on Slumdog Millionaire.
Pinki was born with a cleft lip, and like millions of other children born with the lip deformity in developing countries, Pinki had to live with it and suffer the social consequences as the family could nt afford surgery. 
While everyone  including media and Indians- who should know a little more of the actual conditions- are falling over one another to celebrate a fictional account in "Slumdog Millionaire" for the Oscars, the real life documentary story is of a girl who faced ridicule, teasing and marginalization in real life and the intervention of a few good Samaritans which has helped chang a life while giving hope  and aspirations to thousands of similar children, her fellow villagers and millions of fans and supporters around the world.
    Pinki is now full of energy and confidence, and a great smile too after the ride on the Smile Train, which teaches doctors in their own countries to operate on cleft lips.