Bandra district in Mumbai promised a party for their Oscar winning stars, and party they did.
What the party lacked was Hollywood glamour but the joyous and enthusiastic reception made up for it as throngs turned out from the shantytown's squalid streets.
Proud relatives and neighbors cheered the two child stars of the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire who returned home Friday (NZ time).
Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, who portrays Salim, displayed some fancy Bollywood moves as he danced to the throbbing music of "Jai Ho".
The 10-year-old entertained the Bandra crowd as his father, Mohammed Ismail, looked on in pride.
Young Azhar to his friends did some more dancing after arriving at his lean-to home made of tarpaulins.
The other star, Rubina Ali, 9, who plays the film's heroine, Latika, as a child, was carried on her father's shoulders, waving at people who gathered around.
The pair and other child actors from the film were in Los Angeles for last week’s Academy Awards ceremony, where their movie collected eight Oscars, including best picture.
For Rubina, who had walked at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles and romped through Disneyland, came back to her home that sits above a sea of trash.
Reporters and photographers mobbed the two children, and Azharuddin fielded questions like a veteran.
"An Oscar award is such an award that big stars dream of getting these awards," he said. "Eight awards! Even one award makes one feel so high, we have got eight awards. So, our movie has become such a super hit."
"I am saying so much - if I say more, I will start crying with tears of happiness."
Azharuddin said he would finish his studies before continuing his film career.
"First, I will study. Education is important if I want to be an actor. So, first, I shall study in a school, college, and then I will become a big actor," he said to reporters.
Danny Boyle, the film's British director, said before the Oscars that he wanted Rubina and Azhar to get an education rather than a jackpot.
The moviemakers have gotten them places in a non-profit, English-language school for underprivileged children in Mumbai, given their families small monthly stipends, and set up trust funds that Rubina and Azharuddin can tap once they graduate.
None of the young actors appeared intimidated by the airport crowd. Rubina smiled broadly as she clutched a small fluffy brown toy bunny.
The movie's two Indian Oscar winners, composer A.R. Rahman and sound engineer Resul Pookutty, also were met by cheering crowds who showered them with flower petals as they arrived in their home towns.
Rahman, who won Oscars for musical score and the best song "Jai Ho," led the dancing throng in chants of the song's title.
"They (the fans) almost killed me with their love," he told The Press Trust of India after landing in Chennai.
"I never expected something like this," he said. "This is history being made."