A.R. Rahman wins Golden Globe for 'Slumdog' score

Indian composer A.R. Rahman smiles during a news conference inKolkata in this January 9, 2003 file photo.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Bollywood's A.R. Rahman won a Golden Globe for his score in Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" on Sunday, becoming the first Indian composer to strike gold at the annual Hollywood awards.

"Slumdog," which tells of a young man looking for love and competing for money on the Indian version of the television game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire", also earned three other Golden Globes including best film drama.

Rahman, 43, had also been named best composer at the Critics' Choice Awards in Los Angeles last week.

Known for his musical versatility -- from romantic compositions to foot-tapping numbers, Rahman has innovated with different instruments and sounds to create some of India's best-known musical hits for nearly two decades.

Despite earlier international credits such as the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Bombay Dreams", it is Rahman's work on British director Danny Boyle's "Slumdog" that endeared him to Western critics.

The Golden Globe Awards are given out by some 90 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. They are closely watched for clues as to which films might vie for Oscars, the world's top movie awards given out in February by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.