Indians who have won an Oscar

India's music maestro A.R. Rahman may end up getting his third Oscar nomination in the best original score category after making it to the list of 114 probables. Rahman, who has previously been nominated for 127 Hours and Slumdog Millionaire, for which he won two Oscars, has made it to the list for three of his films including Hollywood movies The Hundred-Foot Journey and Million Dollar Arm and Rajinikanth-starrer Tamil film Kochadaiiyaan. As congratulations poured in from fans on twitter, Rahman tweeted in Tamil "All praise is for God."

Hindi film Jal also features in the long list of best picture Oscar hopefuls. Girish Malik's directorial debut Jal, a film based on water scarcity issue, has also found a place among the 100 films shortlisted for nomination in the best picture category as well as in the best original score list for Sonu Nigam and Bickram Ghosh's rustic compositions. Jal features in the best picture list as an independent submission, while India will officially be represented in the best foreign feature category by Liar's Dice. "We directly submitted our film. I believed in our content and that's why we sent our movie. Two days ago we got the news that our screenplay was acquired by the Oscar library. Now our film is among the 100 films hoping for an Oscar nomination," Jal producer Puneet Singh said to PTI.
While India sends an official entry to the Oscars every year, no Indian film has won under the Best Foreign Film category. While Indian themes have dominated and won at the prestigious awards ceremony (Gandhi and Slumdog Millionaire as examples), very few Indians have walked away with the Golden statue. Here’s a look at those Indians who’ve made the country proud at the Academy Awards.

Bhanu Athaiya: She’s a name to reckon with in Indian cinema. A costume designer, she styled many Bollywood actors and worked on some of the best films in Bollywood with noted filmmakers like Guru Dutt, Yash Chopra, Raj Kapoor, and Ashutosh Gowariker. Bhanu made India proud when she won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design for her work in the film Gandhi (1982) along with John Mollo. Starring Ben Kingsley as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the film focused on the life of the Father of the Nation. Bhanu was also the first Indian ever to win the prestigious Oscar award.

Satyajit Ray: Satyajit Ray has been an inspiration to filmmakers across the world and his legacy remains even today. Considered as one of the finest directors of Indian and Bengali cinema, Satyajit Ray has had an exemplary body of work to his credit. So impressed was the world with his vision and depiction of cinema that in 1992, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Ray an Honorary Oscar in 1992 for Lifetime Achievement. But Ray could not personally attend the ceremony as he was ill and lying on a hospital bed. However, the filmmaker gave his acceptance speech to the Academy via live video feed from the hospital bed.

AR Rahman: This great music composer, singer-songwriter, music producer and musician needs no introduction. Considered as one of India’s most respected music directors, Rahman is a legend in himself. Rahman and Gulzar won an Oscar for Best Original Song ('Jai Ho') for the film Slumdog Millionaire. But that was not all. It seemed as if the Academy wasn’t satisfied and bestowed a second Oscar on him. Rahman won once again for Best Original Score for Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. In his acceptance speech, Rahman quoted the popular Hindi dialogue from the film Deewar, "Mere pass maa hai" and thanked his mother on stage.

Resul Pookutty: Indian film sound designer, sound editor and mixer, Resul Pookutty was one of the fortunate artists to receive an Oscar for his work in the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire. The sound engineer from Kerala bagged the Best Sound Mixing award at the Oscars and walked away with the golden statue at the 81st Academy Awards. He won the award along with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke. Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire that had an Indian star cast walked away with all the major awards at the Oscars that year and Resul Pookutty along with AR Rehman put India on the map again.

Gulzar: Gulzar and AR Rahman won an Oscar for Best Original Song for 'Jai Ho' at the 81st Academy Awards. Gulzar who wrote the lyrics once again proved his mettle as the song went on to become a sensation even in Hollywood. Unfortunately, he could not attend the awards function. A noted poet who writes eloquent poetry in Urdu, Gulzar collaborated on many occasions with AR Rahman and this combination worked once again for Danny Boyle’s film which walked away with all the major awards that year!