Srinivas' hopes finally answered

The countdown is over and Indian music maestro A.R. Rahman has won two awards at the 81st Annual Academy Awards ceremony. Srinivas, one of the several new singers who was discovered or rediscovered by Rahman had pinned his hopes on A.R. Rahman and they are finally answered.

Srinivas had deeply hoped, "A.R. Rahman has been nominated in two categories: Best Original score and Best Original Song for Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle, and I hope he wins both the awards. Given the popularity of his work in Slumdog Millionaire, and the kind of other major international film awards it has already won, I reckon Rahman stands an excellent chance."

Our classical musicians have, of course, made us proud, but Rahman is the first Indian composer of popular music who has caught the imagination of Western audiences. Rahman has done to Indian music what no musician has done before: he has made the popular Indian music known at the international level.

Talking about Rahman's brilliant composition 'Jai Ho' in Slumdog Millionaire, which has become so popular that Pussycat Dolls, an American all-girls pop group, has remixed it, Srinivas said: "It"s a great song, beautifully composed, and it is well sung too, by Sukhvinder, who has now become world-famous, thanks to Rahman." The song has fetched Rahman the Oscar for the best song.