MANILA, Philippines?Now that the Oscar statuettes have been handed out, here are random pieces of information that may prove interesting to trivia buffs:

Movies on India

?Slumdog Millionaire? is only the second movie set in India to win the Best Picture award. The other one is ?Gandhi,? which won in 1983. Both films got eight Oscars each. ?Slumdog,? however, didn?t get any nomination for its cast, while ?Gandhi?s? Ben Kingsley, who played the title role, won for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. The directors of the two flicks, Danny Boyle and Richard Attenborough, both snagged the Oscar.

Another award winner for a film about India was ?Passage to India? in 1985, based on the novel by EM Forster. Peggy Ashcroft won as Best Supporting Actress, while Maurice Jarre won for Best Musical Score. The picture bagged nine nominations.

Kate Winslet?s award as Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her work on ?The Reader? is her first win. She?s been nominated five times in previous years, the first time in 1996 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for ?Sense and Sensibility.? She was also nominated for ?Titanic,? ?Iris,? ?Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? and ?Little Children.?

This is the second Oscar award for Sean Penn, winner for Best Performance By An Actor in a Leading Role for ?Milk.? He got his first golden statuette in the same category for ?Mystic River? in 2006. He?s also earned nominations for ?Dead Man Walking,? ?Sweet and Lowdown? and ?I Am Sam.?

Heath Ledger is the first actor to get a posthumous Oscar (for his role as the Joker in ?The Dark Knight?) since the late Peter Finch won the Best Actor plum for ?Network? in 1977. Ledger?s trophy will go his daughter, Matilda, but since she?s only 3 years old, it will be held in trust by her mom, Michelle Williams, until the child turns 18.

Penelope Cruz has won her first Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in ?Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona.? It?s only the second time she?s been nominated. The first was for the Spanish-language film, ?Volver,? in 2007.

Short ceremony

This year?s extravaganza should rank as one of the shorter ceremonies in the history of the Oscars, with a running time of less than four hours. The longest on record was the awards rites in 2002, which lasted for four hours and 21 minutes. Kudos to the Velvet Channel for really airing the show live, unlike previous broadcasts that were shown on a delayed basis because of numerous commercials.