Oscar-winning music maestro A. R. Rahman's media-shy better half Saira Banu walked the red carpet at the Kodak Theatre here for the 81st Annual Academy Awards.

Clad in a black kurta-churidar by Sabyasachi Mukherjee, the demure wife of the maestro has by choice always maintained her distance from the limeligh till date. She was not a much known face among the Indians, let alone on the global platform before appearing at the awards.

Saira Banu was all over the TV screens worldwide when she walked the red carpet clinging to her husband's right arm throughout the ceremony.

Not much of a speaking lot, both husband and wife have had perhaps the maximum number of public appearances courtesy the worldwide success of Danny Boyle's Mumbai-based rags-to-rajah story "Slumdog Millionaire".

Rahman won two golden statuettes - for best original song "Jai ho" and best original score for the film.