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 A.R. 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 Millionairea, was also in the longlist 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.
India had already lost hope of a nomination in the Foreign Language Film category as its official entry "Liar's Dice" had failed to make a cut even to the longlist of nine out of the 83 films that had qualified for the category.
The final nomination list of the 87th Academy Awards was announced at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills here. For the first time, nominees in all 24 categories were announced live.
"The Imitation Game" landed eight nominations in total while Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper" and "Boyhood" had six each.
The Best Motion Picture of the Year category will see tough competition between "American Sniper", "Birdman", "Boyhood", "The Grand Budapest Hotel", "The Imitation Game", "Selma", "The Theory of Everything" and "Whiplash".
As for the Achievement in Directing list, there's a neck-to-neck competition between "Birdman" (Inarritu), "Boyhood" (Richard Linklater), "Foxcatcher" (Bennett Miller), "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Anderson) and "The Imitation Game" (Morten Tyldum).
The contenders for the Best Performance by an Actor in Leading Role are Steve Carell for "Foxcatcher", Bradley Cooper for "American Sniper", Benedict Cumberbatch for "The Imitation Game", Keaton for "Birdman" and Eddie Redmayne for "The Theory of Everything".
As for those competing for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role trophy are Marion Cotillard for "Two Days, One Night", Felicity Jones for "The Theory of Everything", Julianne Moore for "Still Alice", Rosamund Pike for "Gone Girl" and Reese Witherspoon for "Wild".
For the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Robert Duvall ("The Judge"), Ethan Hawke ("Boyhood"), Edward Norton ("Birdman"), Mark Ruffalo ("Foxcatcher") and J.K. Simmons ("Whiplash") are in the race, while actresses in the same category include Patricia Arquette ("Boyhood"), Laura Dern ("Wild"), Keira Knightley ("The Imitation Game"), Emma Stone ("Birdman") and Meryl Streep ("Into the Woods").
The Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) nominees are "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Alexandre Desplat), "The Imitation Game" (Desplat), "Interstellar" (Hans Zimmer), "Mr. Turner" (Gary Yershon), and "The Theory of Everything" (Johann Johannsson).
The Foreign Language Film nomination list has five entries: "Ida" (Poland), "Leviathan" (Russia), "Tangerines" (Estonia), "Timbuktu" (Mauritania) and "Wild Tales" (Argentina).
The complete nomination list is available on the official Oscars website, and all eyes are now set on who will take home the golden statuettes.
The winners are due to be announced at a star-studded extravaganza, to be held Feb 22.
