In the film industry, fame comes early. With the phenomenal success of her debut film, “Slumdog Millionaire”, the Mumbai girl Freida Pinto has earned the status of an international celebrity within no time.

Vogue, widely regarded as the fashion bible, has branded her as a “style icon” for her fashion choices at the coveted red carpet events she has attended in the recent past. The 24-year-old Indian actress features in a fiery new shoot of the Vogue magazine’s next Indian edition, which brands her as a “style icon”.

The announcement and the Vogue’s new cover featuring her emerged barely hours after her Slumdog Millionaire success earned her a role in Woody Allen’s next film.

Allen quickly reserved the services of the Slumdog lead, making her the latest in a long row of female stars featured in his film. The list includes Hollywood actresses like Scarlett Johansson and Diane Keaton.

The shooting for the movie is scheduled to start in London in July and Pinto is slated to star alongside Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin and Sir Anthony Hopkins in her second film which would also be Allen’s fourth London-based film.

Even as the Slumdog Millionaire team recovers from its Oscar headrush, its stars are moving right along. Dev Patel has already signed a movie with Manoj Night Shyamalan, replacing actor Jesse McCartney for the villain’s role in The Last Airbender.

And now Freida Pinto, the film’s leading lady who has so far been wowing the world on the red carpet and across television interviews lining up to the Slumdog’s Oscar glory, has gone one better and signed up a film with director Woody Allen.

The 24-year-old Mumbai girl, who dumped her fiancé has landed with a spectacular breakthrough. Allen was thanked profusely by Penelope Cruz in her Best Supporting actress acceptance speech, for not just for giving her an award-winning role in his most recent, Vicky Christina Barcelona, but for ‘having written over all these years some of the greatest characters for women.’

Allen, a three-time Oscar winner (and a 17-time nominee) has frequently seen actresses go on to Oscar glory, most recently Cruz. Before her, Mira Sorvino won for Mighty Aphrodite, Dianne Wiest won for Hannah And Her Sisters and Bullets Over Broadway, and, of course, Diane Keaton won for Allen’s crown jewel, the magnificent 1977 picture, Annie Hall.

And the Oscar goes to…

Well, no prizes for guessing this one, the world knew this before it could have been nominated! Oscars have given eight on ten for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

British director, Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ swept eight Oscars at the 81st Academy Awards held Sunday night in Los Angeles.

The prestigious list of awards include Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Sound Mixing, Film Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Direction and Motion Picture.

India’s living legend A R Rahman bagged two awards for his composition, Jai Ho…. “I want to thank everyone. The essence of the film is optimism and hope. All through my life I had the choice of love and hate…I chose love and I am here,” said an elated Rahman.

The Mumbai based, Fox Searchlight flick, Slumdog Millionaire, is a rags-to-riches tale of a Mumbai slum dweller Jamal, who goes on to win the top prize money at the India’s version of ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’.

Receiving his tropy for best direction, Danny Boyle said, “Just to say to Mumbai, all of you who helped us make the film and all of those of you who didn’t, thank you very much. You dwarf even this sky.”

The movie has earned a whopping $150 million worldwide since its November release last year.

“Slumdog Millionaire” is set to get a $56 million boost from the Oscar nominations, the biggest since Clint Eastwood’s “Million-Dollar Baby” in 2004 saw sales rising by ten times after being nominated for the Best Picture in the Oscars.

“Slumdog Millionaire” might earn as much as $100 million during its run at the theaters in US and Canadian, according to a report compiled by researchers at Media by Numbers LLC. Till it was nominated by the Oscars in ten categories, including Best Picture, the movie had collected around $43.9 million.

Directed by Danny Boyle, the movie tells of young man’s aspiration to rise out of his dismal surroundings in Mumbai. He becomes a contestant in the Indian version of the television gameshow, “Who Wants to be a millionaire” but is hauled up by the police after a winning streak. The movie then proceeds in a series of flashbacks of his life as he explains how he knows the answers to the difficult gameshow questions.

The heart-warming movie has been attracting bigger audiences after the Oscar nominations in the US as compared to Brad Pitt’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” as well as the Holocaust drama “The Reader”. Media analysts suggest that in these times of recession the happy ending in “Slumdog Millionaire” may have something to do with the movie’s growing popularity.

Glittering evening, super stars, shinning trophies, yet there were no surprises at 15^th annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards, at least when the top prize was concerned! Continuing its string of awards from Critics Choice to Golden Globe, British director Danny Boyle’s Mumbai based ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ has already become everyone’s favorite. The frontrunner for Oscars this year, has added another feather to its cap, wining the topmost ‘Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture’ award at the glistering ceremony held on the 25^th night at the Shrine Exposition Center, Los Angeles, California.

“It was already enough to be nominated, to win this is unbelievable, it is unbelievable”, said Anil Kapoor who collected the award on the behalf of the movie’s cast and crew.

Anil Kapoor who played the host of the show, ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ in the movie, thanked the the director Danny Boyle and dedicated the phenomenal success to the child stars. “They deserve this award. It is the children that have done it, not us. This is on behalf of the children,” said an elated Anil Kapoor.

The award for the best actor (male) went to Sean Penn who was ‘shocked’ to win the award for his performance in ‘Milk’, beating Slumdog Millionaire’s 18 year old actor, Dev Patel. Meryl Streep won the lead actor (female) award for ‘Doubt’.

The best actor in the supporting role was awarded (posthumously) to the late Australian star, Heath Ledger, for his role as the joker in Batman blockbuster ‘The Dark Knight’. On the other hand, Kate Winslet was named the best suppoting actor (female) for the outstanding performance in The Reader. The role earlier also won her a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination this year.

‘30 Rock’, ‘Mad Men’ and John Adams were among the notable TV winners. AMC’s critically-acclaimed “Mad Men” won the best drama ensemble honor whereas NBC’s “30 Rock” made a clean sweep of the awards in the comedy series categories. The award for the ‘Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series, went to the favourite, ‘Heroes’ and to ‘The Dark Knight’ for the movie.

 James Earl Jones was honored with the guild’s prestigious lifetime achievement award.

Surprisingly The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, the movie which bagged 13 Oscar nominations and the critically appreciated  Frost/Nixon returned disappointed.

The stage is now all set for the Academy Awards!

British Director Danny Boyle’s, Slumdog Millionaire, the success tale of a Mumbai slum-dweller, managed to hog all limelight at Broadcast Film Critics Association’s 14th annual Critics Choice Awards.

The Mumbai based movie bagged as many as five awards including the Best Film, Best Director for Danny Boyle, Best Writer for Simon Beaufoy, Best Young Actor for Dev Patel and Best Composer for India’s living legend - A.R. Rahman.

Dev Patel, who played the protagonist Jamal, was named best young actor. The storyline is based on a teenaged slum dweller who dreams to become rich overnight and goes on to be the youngest winner of the Indian version of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’. Young Ayush who plays Jamal in his childhood, was also appreciated for his acting skills.

The Fox Searchlight flick, which has also been named in Time magazine’s list of Top Ten Films of 2008, is a frontrunner for Oscar nominations after this phenomenal success.

Freida Pinto, who played the love interest of star Dev Patel, said at the glittering ceremony, “Everybody back in India’s probably rejoicing already because they are hooked onto Google”. A.R. Rahman, named best composer, declared, “This is for India!”