Onstage, Laboring to Brighten a Dim Picture

Hank Stuever: HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 22 — Jai ho, you Oscar slumdogs, which we think translates loosely as: Shout hallelujah, c'mon get happy!

But how happy? After all, the movie that won Best Picture at the 81st annual Academy Awards here Sunday night is supposed to be the "upbeat" one, and it's the one where orphans get acid spooned into their adorable eyes. (But at the end, they dance! Jai ho!)