/> "It's a triumph for Santosh on so many levels.A film in English from India winning the awards for Best Film, Best Cinematography ...it's incredible!" exults Rahul Bose who plays the Indian male lead in Santosh Sivan's cross-cultural colonial love story Before The Rains.

At the Houston World-Fest International Film Festival which concluded on April 20 Santosh Sivan's big-little film Before The Rains about cultural cross-pollination set in the glorious greenery of Munnar in Kerala, stunned everyone by walking away with two of the top awards for Best Film and Best Cinematography.

But it's the third award at Houston for Best Music that has delighted Santosh the most.

"To me personally winning awards isn't such a huge issue," the shy cinematographer-filmmaker saids after the news of the triumph reached him. "I've won five National awards for cinematography and twelve national awards in all.

I'm happy Before The Rains is being recognized internationally as a non-formula non-Bollywood product. But I'm the happiest about Mark Kilian's award for Best Music in Before The Rains at Houston."

Kilian who has done the music for such posh Hollywood films as Rendition and The Bird Can't Fly becomes the first non-Indian composer to be honoured internationally for an Indian film.

Says Santosh proudly, "We decided to get Mark Kilian to do the music in Before The Rains because we didn't want a 'typical' soundtrack with strings harmonies and ragas denoting the green stretches of Munnar.

We wanted an elment of the unexpected in the music. I personally thought Kilian's work gave my film an extra dimension. I shot the greenery in non-typical manner."

Didn't Ram Gopal Varma shoot Nishabd in Munnar? "He did. But we shot Before The Rains first though it's yet to release in India. It's not easy to release an English-laguage Indian film in mainstream theatres," says Santosh.

Having triumphed in Houston Before The Rains now opens commercially in New York this month and then goes to the prestigious Edinburgh Film Festival in June where it will open at the posh Metrodome.

"It then goes for release to the UK,Australia, New Zealand and Russia. I suppose the film has now acquired a life of its own beyond the country of its origin and I'm happy to see it successful.I've moved on."

Having directed Asoka with Shah Rukh Khan in 2001 Santosh has just completed his second Hindi film Tahan with Rahul Bose and Anupam Kher about Kashmir militancy. It was shot on location in Kashmir.

"Unlike my Terrorist which was very blunt Tahan is my first Bollywood-styled entertainer. It looks at the the theme of terrorism in an entertaining and gripping manner."