LOS ANGELES,CA-British-Indian actor Dev Patel, who has received an Oscar nomination in the supporting actor category for “Lion”, said he is feeling “overwhelmingly grateful”. The London-born actor, who shot to fame with Danny Boyle’s 2009 Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire”, plays an Australian-Indian who tries to find his lost family in India through the help of Google map. “I’m sitting here with my mouth wide open figuring out...
how this happened. I’m feeling overwhelmingly grateful right now,” Patel told BBC following the nomination,on Jan 24. “Lion” is based on the real life memoir of Saroo Brierley titled ‘A Long Way Home’ and he took six months to prepare for the role which he believes is a career-defining part for him.
Talking about his role in the Garth Davis-directed drama, Patel said it felt really good to be recognised. “The film has opened people to my potential. After ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, it was really hard for me to get quality work. You think it would be easy but it is actually quite a struggle. I felt pigeon-holed.
“But I kept working hard and have been patient for many years now. So, when a role like this came, I gave everything that I had to do justice to it. It feels really good when it is recognised,” Patel said in a recent interview.
He will be vying for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the 89th Academy Awards, to be held here on February 26 against other nominees Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”), Jeff Bridges (“Hell or High Water”) and Michael Shannon (“Nocturnal Animals”). The nominees were announced by actor Terrence Howard.
Patel, who lost the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role award to Aaron Taylor-Johnson at the 74th Golden Globes, had said earlier: “I would be lying if I say that awards are not amazing. Awards can really change someone’s career. You get recognition. You might get scripts that you didn’t get earlier. But I never took up a project thinking about a golden statue.”
“Lion”, based on Saroo Brierley’s best-selling autobiography “A Long Way Home”, is a true story about an Indian boy who falls asleep on a train only to wake up and realise he is miles away from home in a strange land where he does not speak the language. He experiences many challenges before getting adopted by a couple in Australia. Years later, he sets out to find his lost family.
With his nomination for Lion, star Dev Patel became just the third actor of Indian descent ever nominated for an Oscar — and only the 13th Asian actor to receive a nod, British Media said.He is the first Indian acting nominee in 13 years, since Ben Kingsley was nominated in 2004 for House of Sand and Fog.Kingsley’s father Rahimtulla Harji Banji was born in Kenya and was of Gujarati Ismaili descent. Prior to Kingsley, who has racked up four nominations since 1982 for his acting work, the only other Oscar nominee of Indian descent was The Dark Angel star Merle Oberon, and that was back in 1935. Oberon,British dailies said, spent much of her life shrouding her racial background and parentage, but was half Sri Lankan and pointed out, mixed Indian heritage.
Patel is no stranger to the Oscars, having been in attendance to watch his film Slumdog Millionaire sweep the awards in 2009.
A.R. Rahman misses Music maestro A.R.Rahman was out of the race and not feature as part of the final nomination list for the gala.
The Mozart of Madras, who had won two Oscars in 2009, stood a chance at two nominations for his work for “Pele: Birth of a Legend”, a biographical film about the early life of Brazilian footballer Pelé.
Rahman’s name featured in an initial list of 145 scores in contention for a nomination in the Original Score category.
Also, “Ginga”, his acclaimed number from the 2016 biographical film, was part of a long list of 91 songs competing for a spot in the final nominations for the Original Song category.
Talking about his role in the Garth Davis-directed drama, Patel said it felt really good to be recognised. “The film has opened people to my potential. After ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, it was really hard for me to get quality work. You think it would be easy but it is actually quite a struggle. I felt pigeon-holed.
“But I kept working hard and have been patient for many years now. So, when a role like this came, I gave everything that I had to do justice to it. It feels really good when it is recognised,” Patel said in a recent interview.
He will be vying for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the 89th Academy Awards, to be held here on February 26 against other nominees Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”), Jeff Bridges (“Hell or High Water”) and Michael Shannon (“Nocturnal Animals”). The nominees were announced by actor Terrence Howard.
Patel, who lost the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role award to Aaron Taylor-Johnson at the 74th Golden Globes, had said earlier: “I would be lying if I say that awards are not amazing. Awards can really change someone’s career. You get recognition. You might get scripts that you didn’t get earlier. But I never took up a project thinking about a golden statue.”
“Lion”, based on Saroo Brierley’s best-selling autobiography “A Long Way Home”, is a true story about an Indian boy who falls asleep on a train only to wake up and realise he is miles away from home in a strange land where he does not speak the language. He experiences many challenges before getting adopted by a couple in Australia. Years later, he sets out to find his lost family.
With his nomination for Lion, star Dev Patel became just the third actor of Indian descent ever nominated for an Oscar — and only the 13th Asian actor to receive a nod, British Media said.He is the first Indian acting nominee in 13 years, since Ben Kingsley was nominated in 2004 for House of Sand and Fog.Kingsley’s father Rahimtulla Harji Banji was born in Kenya and was of Gujarati Ismaili descent. Prior to Kingsley, who has racked up four nominations since 1982 for his acting work, the only other Oscar nominee of Indian descent was The Dark Angel star Merle Oberon, and that was back in 1935. Oberon,British dailies said, spent much of her life shrouding her racial background and parentage, but was half Sri Lankan and pointed out, mixed Indian heritage.
Patel is no stranger to the Oscars, having been in attendance to watch his film Slumdog Millionaire sweep the awards in 2009.
A.R. Rahman misses Music maestro A.R.Rahman was out of the race and not feature as part of the final nomination list for the gala.
The Mozart of Madras, who had won two Oscars in 2009, stood a chance at two nominations for his work for “Pele: Birth of a Legend”, a biographical film about the early life of Brazilian footballer Pelé.
Rahman’s name featured in an initial list of 145 scores in contention for a nomination in the Original Score category.
Also, “Ginga”, his acclaimed number from the 2016 biographical film, was part of a long list of 91 songs competing for a spot in the final nominations for the Original Song category.
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