Los Angeles (PTI) As the Oscar fever catches up, expectation are high among Indians that music maestro A.R. Rahman, who has bagged three nominations for Slumdog Millionaire, will bring home the coveted trophy.
Smile Pinki and The final Inch are two other films with strong Indian connections vying for the Academy glory.
The 43-year-old, who has already pocketed a Golden Globe and BAFTA, is nominated for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for his numbers Jai ho and O saya.
In the original score category, Rahman faces competition from Alexandre Desplat (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), James Newton Howard (Defiance), Danny Elfman (Milk) and Thomas Newman (WALL-E).
The Indian composer is pitted against Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman (Down to earth from WALL-E) in the original song category. Gulzar has penned the lyrics of Jai ho and Mathangi 'Maya' Arulpragasam aka M.I.A. for O saya.
It is also a tryst with destiny for Indian sound technician Resul Pookutty, who is vying for an Oscar with his colleagues Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke for sound mixing in Slumdog Millionaire. Pookutty faces challenge from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, WALL-E and Wanted.
The Indian technician recently won a BAFTA and Cinema Audio Society (CAS) awards for best sound mixing. He is the first Indian to win the CAS award.
Boyle's Mumbai-based saga about a slumdweller's journey to fame and fortune, is generating equal hype in India with its predominant Indian cast and crew.
Other than Rahman and Pookutty, the film is fighting in six categories including the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
With 13 nominations, Brad Pitt-starrer The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the biggest threat to the film.
Boyle and Slumdog Millionaire are the favourite at the Oscars to win the Best Film and the Best Director trophy.
The film is pitted against The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk and The Reader in the Best Picture category.
While the British director will have to fight it out with David Fincher The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Ron Howard Frost/Nixon, Gus Van Sant Milk and Stephen Daldry The Reader.
However, Indian enthusiasm is not just limited to Slumdog Millionaire, two documentaries Smile Pinki and The Final Inch, are also in the Oscar race in Documentary (Short) category.
Smile Pinki is a 40-minute documentary that depicts the story of Pinki Sonkar, an eight-year-old girl from Mirzapur whose face cleft lip made her a social outcast.
Made in Bhojpuri and Hindi, the film has been directed by Emmy-nominated producer Megan Mylan.
Irene Tylor Brodsky's 38-minute documentary The Final Inch captures the struggle of polio field workers as they travel from village to village to administer polio drops under the polio eradication programme of India.
The other hopeful at the Oscars is British actress Kate Winslet, who is vying for the Best Actress honours for her role in the Nazi prison drama The Reader. The actress has been unlucky so far despite earning five nominations earlier.
Winslet is facing challenge from Oscar veteran Meryl Streep with Doubt. Streep holds the record for being the highest nominated actress with 15 nominations and two awards. The other contenders in the Best Actress category are
Anne Hathaway Rachel Getting Married, Angelina Jolie The Changeling and Melissa Leo Frozen River.
In the Best Actor category the odds are high for comeback star Mickey Rourke to win the trophy for his role in The Wrestler. However, with his gay politician act Sean Penn might just upset Rourke's chances.
Brad Pitt's act in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as a man who ages backward can not be ruled out from the race for the coveted trophy.
The other two contenders in this category are Richard Jenkins in The Visitor and Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon.
Late actor Heath Ledger is the most favourite to win the honours for the Best Supporting Actor for his dibolic act as The Joker in the Batman flick The Dark Knight.
The other contenders in this category are Josh Brolin in Milk, Robert Downey Jr in Tropic Thunder,Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt and Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road.
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