A home win for Slumdog spinners

The other ministries and agencies may well simply be fulfilling their proper function. But there will undoubtedly be more to come as the court battle between Anil and Mukesh over a gas-supply deal comes to a crunch point next month.

The best bit about watching the Oscars on Indian TV was seeing the anchors twist and bend to bring Slumdog back home from LA.

AR Rahman, the Indian film-music composer, understandably got blanket coverage for his two awards. But so did Resul Pokutty, a sound technician, for his part in the "best sound-mixing" Oscar.

Indian television journalists had been herding bemused slum residents into special screenings for weeks to make sure they had someone to interview on the night of the ceremony.

As the tally of gold statuettes grew, cable channel CNN-IBN's film critic Rajeev Masand said it all: "It's made by a British director, but how could it not be an Indian film?"

* The simmering war between Mukesh and Anil Ambani, the heirs of Reliance, India's largest company, is heating up again. Each side of the split company has been lobbying against the other, with the last week particularly fierce and furious.

First, India's finance minister told its parliament that the stock-market regulator had begun a formal inquiry into insider trading at Reliance Petroleum, a Mukesh company.

Then his minister of state said Anil's Reliance Infrastructure had contravened foreign-exchange rules. The telecoms minister also weighed in, with a special audit of whether another Anil firm, Reliance Communication, has been evading licence fees.

It seems clear what's going on. The Mukesh inquiry was at the specific behest of Amar Singh, leader of the Samajwadi Party and a close ally of Anil's.

The other ministries and agencies may well simply be fulfilling their proper function. But there will undoubtedly be more to come as the court battle between Anil and Mukesh over a gas-supply deal comes to a crunch point next month.