Rahman in Oscar Run for 127 Hours

After sweeping the maximum nominations at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards, royal drama 127 Hours The King's Speech stars Colin Firth as King George VI and actor Geoffrey Rush as speech therapist Lionel Logue, who helped George VI overcome a stammer. The film traces the journey of the British monarch.

The nominations for The King's Speech
It has been nominated in best motion picture, best actor (Colin Firth), director (Tom Hooper), supporting actor (Geoffrey Rush), supporting actress (Helena Bonham Carter) and original music (Alexandre Desplat) categories.

Other categories where it has been included are original screenplay (David Seidler), cinematography (Danny Cohen), editing (Tariq Anwar), costume design (Jenny Beavan) apart from sound mixing and art direction.

True Grit is giving neck-to-neck competition to the The King's Speech with 10 nominations, followed by Inception and The Social Network with eight nominations each.

Best films
This is the first time that as many as 10 films have been nominated in best motion picture category. Apart from I, the list of competitors includes Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit and Winter's Bone.

Rahman does it again
Indian music maestro A.R. Rahman has done it again! He received two nominations Tuesday for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards for the original score in Danny Boyle's 127 Hours as well as original song If I Rise for the same movie.

In a recent interview with IANS, Rahman had said he would be happy to receive a nomination, but isn't expecting an award this time.

"I'll be happy if I get nominations but I've got enough Oscars already for one lifetime. I don't think I'll get an Oscar. I'll enjoy the function and see it, but I don't think I'll be getting it," he said.

Best actor
Those vying for the best actor in a leading role trophy are Javier Bardem (Biutiful), Jeff Bridges (True Grit), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), and James Franco 127 Hours, other than Colin Firth.

Best actress
The actresses in the run for the golden statuette this year include Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone) and Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine).

Best director
Apart from Tom Hooper, the directors who have been considered for the best director Oscar are Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), David Fincher (The Social Network), David O. Russell ("The Fighter") as well as Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (True Grit).

Best foreign language film
Among the foreign language films competing for the prestigious honour are Biutiful (Mexico), Dogtooth (Greece), In A Better World (Denmark), Incendies (Canada) and Outside The Law (Algeria).