Mama mia! Longines wins for Jai Ho!

Longinus Fernandes, who was missed out in the Slumdog Millionaire credits ��� for which filmmaker Danny Boyle made up by acknowledging him at the Oscars, has got further acclaim for his work on the award winning song Jai Ho!
The Bollywood choreographer has won the coveted Astair Award 2009 in the Best Film Choreography category at a ceremony held in New York.Longinus beat down competition from choreographers Anthony Van Laast (Mamma Mia), Aakomon ���AJ��� Jones (Center Stage Turn It Up), Tracy Phillips (Make It Happen), Patrick de Bana and Pedro Gomes (Fados), Kenny Ortega (High School Musical 3), Todd Underwood (Were the World Mine) and created history for himself and India.
���It is a great feeling and I really am exhilarated,��� said an excited Longinus, who couldn���t make it to New York as he was shooting for a film in Ladakh. ���My name was sent for nominations by Tabrez Noorani, the online producer for Slumdog, and frankly it came as a surprise because I never expected to win with so many heavyweights in the competition. I���ve grown up watching musicals of Fred Astair, Bob Fossey and the likes and today I find myself somewhere on the same plane. Wow!���
He also said that somewhere there���s always a woman behind the success of every man. Here, Longinus would like to give full credit to Farah Khan. ���We started in 1985 on stage and did some other shows. Although she went full-fledged into films, I continued my small bits here and there. But she has always promoted me. I���m sure she���ll be happiest to get this news. I also want to thank Danny Boyle as he recognised my talent and put me up on such a high pedestal of world cinema. And A R Rahman as the song itself was so well-composed.���
Meanwhile, Longinus has also bagged a few Hollywood projects and has already completed work on the mini series Bollywood Heroes. ���This is just the beginning. I have a long way to go,��� said the choreographer.