The "Slumdog" cast, from front left: Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Rubina Ali, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar; back left, Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar and Tanay Hemant Chheda.

Nine-year-old Rubina Ali beamed proudly from a huddle with her "Slumdog Millionaire" co-stars on the world's most glamorous stage, just three days after departing the deplorable conditions that have defined her young life.

Some 9,000 miles away, a television set glowed in the tiny shack she calls home. Her mother, Munni Qureshi, watched the Academy Awards as her three other children slept on the floor next to her.

In Hollywood, the Kodak Theater erupted into a standing ovation of tux tails and glittering gowns when the best-picture Oscar went to "Slumdog Millionaire." Then the A-list crowd shuffled off for a night of expensive revelry and back-slapping.

In that single room in Mumbai, barely big enough to hold three adults, television cameras and reporters caught the shrieks of happiness and strains of "Jai Ho," one of the film's popular songs, ringing through the streets outside. The crowds packed into the narrow lanes erupted into a sing-along as children broke out their best Bollywood dance moves.

"We're all very happy. It seems like happiness is falling from the sky," said Sohail Qureshi, a neighbor who watchedAli grow up.

Ali and her neighbor, 10-year-old Azharuddin Ismail, were plucked from these slums to play the young versions of the protagonists in "Slumdog." As of last Wednesday, they were still the obscure "slumdog" kids who would watch from afar as their co-stars scooped the awards.

On Thursday, when their parents decided at the last minute to let them go, they were scrambling for visas, then riding around Mumbai shopping for the trip. Friday and Saturday were spent in travel, their first time in an airplane. By yesterday, they were walking the red carpet. Disneyland was planned to round off the trip.

Director Danny Boyle, asked backstage who was in charge of enforcing the youngsters' bedtimes, said laughing: "God help them, whoever it is.

"Somebody told us 'they will put it in their own memory bank, in their own way'. You talk to them but you can't imagine what it must really feel like. It's lovely to have brought them together. It makes tonight deeply special for us."

"It's fantastic. It's beyond our dreams," said Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, who played the "middle" age protagonist Jamal, as he glanced around at the gaggle of famous faces jamming the long red carpet.

Bringing the youngsters to America was a concern of the film's adults, including adapted screenplay winner Simon Beaufoy.

"We were so worried about bringing them over in case it seemed at all inappropriate because it's the most lavish awards ceremony," he said backstage. "They're completely cool about it. It was absolutely the right thing to do to bring them over.

Back in Mumbai, outside the tiny lean-to made of plastic sheets and rags where Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail lives, his father was met by dozens of reporters and TV crews.

"Normally no one talks to us and no one comes here but now everyone is here," Mohammed Ismail said.

Around the jubilant crowds, life in the slum carried on as usual. Stray dogs fought. People washed dishes, chopped vegetables and went about their chores, oblivious to the celebration.

(China Daily/Agencies February 24, 2009)