Shyamalan, Nayar get Oscar nominations,
Nepal's Caravan tramples Mehta's Earth
J M Shenoy
For the second time in a row, an Indian director's film psyched the Oscars, with Manoj Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense getting the nods in best picture, director, screenplay, supporting actor and editing categories.
Shyamalam wrote the script for The Sixth Sense for which he was paid an impressive $3 million.
Last year, Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth was nominated for the top honors but
ended up with just one, a technical award.
Deepak Nayar's Buena Vista Social Club, a rousing film about Cuban musicians was nominated in the best documentary section.
An international hit, the film has grossed nearly $30 million, about $10 million of it in Germany and $12 million in the United States. It was directed by Wim Wenders, a German director who like, Nayar, now lives and works in Hollywood.
Nayar and Wenders worked together for The Million Dollar Hotel, co-produced by star Mel Gibson, which opened the Berlin film festival last week.
Nepal made history with its Caravan marching into the best foreign film den, trampling the earlier favorite, The Cup from Bhutan.
Deepa Mehta's Earth, which many Oscar voters either found too confusing given its multi-religious and multi-cultural theme or too much of a song-and-dance drama, was snubbed .
Shyamalan, who sold the The Sixth Sense script to Hollywood Pictures, a
division of Walt Disney, three years ago when he was barely 26, has seen his third film become an incredible success story.
His previous movies, Praying With Anger and Wide Awake were bombs, with the latter losing all its $3 million plus investment.
Now the 10th most popular film in the world, and still among the top five
films in over a dozen countries, The Sixth Sense has grossed over $615
million.
Even without the Oscar nominations, it was expected to end its run with at least $700 million. Now with the nods in major categories, the movie could amass $750 million. In the United States, where the film was on its last legs having grossed $1.5 million last week, it is expected now to expand its run, and with another $22 million ghosted, its box-office would reach $300 million.
Though Bruce Willis was ignored in the best actor category, The Sixth Sense
won the nomination for 11-year-old Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette.
Next: Narinder Virk: Cold blooded murder plotter or
'ultimate victim' of American justice system'?
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