South Indian films 'Jai Bhim', 'Marakkar' fall out of Oscar race

Chennai: Director Tha Se Gnanavel's critically-acclaimed Tamil courtroom drama 'Jai Bhim' and Priyadarshan's Malayalam war film 'Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham', failed to make it to the list of nominations for the 94th Academy Awards that were announced on Tuesday.

Hosted by Tracee Ellis Ross and Leslie Jordan, the 94th nominations show began precisely at 6.48 PM (IST).

Ten nominees were announced in the Best Picture category, which was the last of the categories to be announced. While all other nominees in all other categories were chosen by members of their respective branches, nominees for Best Picture were chosen by the entire academy.

The films that have been nominated under this category are 'Belfast', 'Coda', 'Don't Look Up', 'Drive My Car', 'Dune', 'King Richard', 'Licorice Pizza', 'Nightmare Alley', 'The Power of the Dog' and 'West Side Story'.

In the International Feature Film category, five films were nominated.

The films that managed to make the cut in this list are 'Drive My Car' (Japan), 'Flee' (Denmark), 'The Hand of God' (Italy), 'Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom' (Bhutan) and 'The Worst Person in the World' (Norway).

Indian fans were deeply disappointed as earlier in the day, a tweet by a popular US

scribe had kindled hopes of 'Jai Bhim' making the cut. However, that was not to be.

Both 'Jai Bhim' and 'Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham' (Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea), were on the list of 276 movies eligible for this year's Academy Awards.

The Oscar ceremony is scheduled to be held on Sunday, March 27, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and will be televised on the American network ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.