'Birdman', 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' Lead Oscar Race, India Out

LOS ANGELES: India has been left out in the race for the 87th Academy Awards as none of its films or artistes have featured in its final nomination list, announced here Thursday. Overall, it was Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's black comedy ‘Birdman’ and Wes Anderson's comedy ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, leading with nine nominations each, including best picture.

None of India's probable contenders, including Oscar winner AR Rahman, could make it to the final shortlist. Four of Rahman's compositions - three from ‘Million Dollar Arm’ and one from ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’, stood a chance to be nominated for an Oscar in the Original Song category.

Rahman, who had earlier made India proud with his twin Oscar win for 'Slumdog Millionaire’, was also in the long list of 114 scores in contention for a nomination in the Original Score category this time, with three mentions for ‘Million Dollar Arm’, ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’ and Indian film ‘Kochadaiiyaan’. But he's not part of the shortlist. Besides him, even Sonu Nigam and Bickram Ghosh were part of the Original Score category's longlist, for their compositions in ‘Jal’, which also missed a possible nomination in the Best Picture category.

‘Jal’, along with other Indian films, including ‘Dhaga’, ‘Kapus Kondyachi Goshta’, ‘Kochadaiiyaan’, ‘Minugurulu’ and ‘Youngistaan’, were part of a 'Reminder List of Productions Eligible for the 87th Academy Awards' in the Best Picture section. There were a total of 323 movies eligible for the category, and out of that, only eight films are part of the final nominations.

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