Winning the prestigious Academy Awards is the dream of all people involved in Cinema. Indian cinema has been entertaining us for more than a hundred years and we can say that we have many outstanding filmmakers, actors, technicians who deserve to win at the Oscars. Though we send our best entry to the Oscars every year, the list of nominees and the winners is not very long. No Indian film has won under the Best Foreign Film category though quite a few have been nominated for the distinguished award. Guess, the exclusive table we have has the names to be recognized as the best in the Indian film industry.
Indians who won the Oscars
1) Bhanu Athaiya (Costume Designer, Gandhi, 1982)
Bhanu Athaiya, a costume designer won the Academy Award for the Best Costume Design for the film Gandhi (1982) along with John Mollo. The film was based on the life of Mahatma Gandhi where Ben Kingsley played the role of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Bhanu Athaiya was the first Indian ever to win the prestigious Oscar award.
2) A.R. Rahman (Won two Academy Awards for Best Original Score and shared Best Original Song with lyricist Gulzar for Slumdog Millionaire)
In 2009, A. R. Rahman was nominated in three categories of which he brought two Oscar trophies home. He won an Oscar for the Best Original Score and shared another for the Best Original Song with lyricist Gulzar for Slumdog Millionaire.
He’s the only Indian to have won two Academy awards.
3) Satyajit Ray (1992 Honorary)
Satyajit Ray was the first and the only Indian to be awarded an Honorary Oscar for being an inspiration to filmmakers across the world. The people of the world were so impressed with the outstanding work of Satyajit Ray that The Academy awarded Ray an Honorary Oscar in 1992.
4) Resul Pookutty (Best Sound Mixing, Slumdog Millionaire, 2009)
Sound designer, sound editor and mixer, Resul Pookutty was awarded the Oscar for his brilliant work in the award-winning film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. It was the same year (2009) A.R Rahman won two Oscars and both of them made India proud.
5) Gulzar (Best Original song, lyricist, Jai Ho, Slumdog Millionaire, 2009)
In 2009 Indian lyricist Gulzar also won an Academy Award for the best Original song ‘Jai Ho’, Slumdog Millionaire. He shared the award with A.R. Rahman. Unfortunately, he couldn’t attend the award function.
Indian Oscar Nominations List
Here’s a look at the Indian movies which have been nominated for the Oscars. These movies did not bring home the Oscar but earned a name for Indian cinema by bringing it to the global spotlight.
1) Mother India (1958)
2) Salaam Bombay (1989)
3) Lagaan (2002)
4) An Encounter with Faces (1978)
5) Little Terrorist (2005)
Trivia question of the day!
Tell the names of the lead actors in ‘Chaalbaaz’
It’s a twin-girls story, so give me 3 names.
The answer to the question asked in the previous post is Utpal Dutt and the winner is Ms Anita! Congratulations on your hatrick!
PANORAMIC RIPPLES 
For the number of movies we make..our Oscar contribution is minuscule! Either they do not appreciate our stories and culture or we make inferior movies?
The actors in Chaalbaaz sre Sridevi, Sunny Deol and Rajnikanth
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Yayy! You are right! Congratulations 🎉
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Oh yeah so few and each remarkable
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👍
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Great to earn my hat-trick 🙂
Truly hope our India earns Oscar hat-trick too.
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So proud and glad that our movies are getting recognized internationally
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Though no movie has won an oscar we have individuals who make India proud. Bhanu athaiya and A.R.Rehman are such examples. I wish the best for Indian cinema to make a mark in the Oscars soon.
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Can’t say what is the criteria behind the selection of Oscar nominations or winners but really hope to see more names from our country, in the coming lists.
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Oscar is no doubt one of the most prestigious award and it feels great when we see any Indian winning it and I sincerely hope we keep receiving it by putting lot of hardwork.
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I think Indian film industry isn’t pitching the right movies for the Oscars for we have no dearth of talent. Lovely post
Deepika Sharma
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Ltlle terrorist is new for me. Will check that out.
Chalbaaz is one of my fav. I will name different that already being done.
Rohini hattangadi, anupam kher and Ballllmmmaaaa shakti Kapoor
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Haha, clever one!;)
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Isn’t it sad that the movie that got us most Oscars wasn’t made by an Indian? I wish we selected and sent better movies. I was rooting for Tumbbad when an average movie like Gully Boy got picked. How can we hope to win?
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I really feel that we have many movies in Bollywood that are beautifully made and should be listed in the Oscars. Let’s hope we get great movies soon listed!!
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I didn’t know about all of the buddy, thanks a lot for this post. How I wish we make more and more Oscar-worthy movies in India and we indeed are progressing in the right direction.
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All these people are immensely talented and it is great that our movies are getting recognition at international level. A.R. Rahman is my all time favorite.
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This was a fun as well as an informative post. for the number of movies that we make, the recognition is far too less. We too need to be more creative in making world-class cinema.
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This is an informative post . I really feel that we have many movies that should be listed in the Oscars. Let’ hope we make more such movies.
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I have been disappointed with our choices for the large part of probably 30 years now, to be honest. We sent stuff like Jeans back when I was a teenager. Gully Boy a few years ago… we are capable of so much more, if we just take a look at what regional cinema offers.
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Wow, this is new learning for me, except for A.R Rehman; I wasn’t aware of any. Thanks for bringing the list here. However, I could never understand the criteria of selection for Oscar. Many movies deserve nomination and win. Unfortunately, they never get even counted for.
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Really proud that Indian talents are being recognised at international level and would be great if we contribute more
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Sridevi, Rajnikant and Sunny Deol 😊
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