Indian films have not marked a significant and prominent presence for themselves at the Academy Awards, commonly known by their nickname, the "Oscars".
Although Indian Cinema produces numerous films in Hindi and multiple regional languages throughout the year, it has been mostly absent among the illustrious list of Oscar-nominated movies and winners, produced across the world.
Indian Films nominated at the Oscars
The 1957 Hindi film ‘Mother India’ was India’s first submission for the same and it made it to the final shortlist, nominated alongside 4 other films in the category. It came close to winning the Oscar but lost to ‘Nights of Cabiria’ by a single vote. Along with ‘Mother India’, only 3 Indian films till date have managed to make it to the final shortlist of nominations for the category, namely ‘Salaam Bombay!’ (1988) and ‘Lagaan’ (2001).
Indian Film Personalities at the Oscars
Although Indian films have not succeeded in winning the Oscar statuette, quite a few Indian film personalities have walked away with the prestigious accolade.
The year 1982 marked the first victory of India at the Oscars when costume designer Bhanu Athaiya received the award for Best Costume Designer for her work in Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning film ‘Gandhi’ (1982).
Later in 2009, the Indian film industry earned prominence at the Oscars, bringing home 3 awards that were conferred to Gulzar for Best Original Song, alongside A. R. Rahman who also won the Best Original Score for the same song "Jai Ho" featured in the film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (2008).
Resul Pookutty won the Best Sound Mixing, alongside Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke, for the same film.
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