A R Rahman, whose score for the Donny Boyle directed survival drama 127 Hours had brought him a Golden Globe nomination a month ago, has done better at the Oscars. He has bagged two Oscar nominations, like he did for Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. Apart from the score, he also received a nomination for If I Rise which he sang with the British artist Dido.
And Lucknow-raised Tariq Anwar, one of the most distinguished editors and an Oscar winner for American Beauty, has been nominated for The King's Speech, the hit British film which is getting worldwide release in the next two weeks. Anwar is based in London and has been editing for more than 25 years. The King's Speech has received 12 Oscar nominations.
Rahman who has also been nominated for a BAFTA award in the UK, faces competition from several veteran Hollywood composers including Hans Zimmer for Inception. Other nominations for music are John Powell for How to Train Your Dragon, Alexandre Desplat for the The King's Speech and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for the The Social Network.
The competitors for the best song category are Coming Home from Country Strong, I See the Light from Tangled), and We Belong Together from Toy Story 3 which has grossed over $1 billion.
127 Hours was also nominated for the best film but Boyle did not was not nominated for direction. But he was nominated for the screenplay along with his Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire script writer, Simon Beaufoy.
The film which is a modest success in North America with an $11 million gross may find a strong uptick at the box-office in the next few weeks. In the United Kingdom, the movie which is yet to open in most parts of the world, is a smash hit, having grossed $10 million and still going strong.
