Top 10 Oscar Nominated Winning Indian Movies

Top 10 Oscar Nominated Winning Indian Movies: Bollywood movies have been making their way overseas with their quality content and amazing screenplay. Oscars as we know are one of the most prestigious awards in the entertainment industry.

Top 10 Oscar Nominated Winning Indian Movies

This article will be sharing the top Oscar-nominated Bollywood movies as well as listing the movies that have won the honorary award over the years. Let’s take a look at them below-

No. 1 Mother India

The first movie that got its very first nomination at the Oscars from our Indian cinema is Mother India. It was an epic drama film which got nominated for Oscars in 1958 under the category “Best foreign language film”. The story highlighted a poverty-stricken village woman and her struggles while raising her sons and surviving against a cunning money-lender among other troubles. Even though the movie didn’t win an Oscar, it was the beginning of Indian movies into Oscars.

Year of nomination – 1958
Category – Best Foreign Language film
Main Cast- Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Raaj Kumar and Rajendra Kumar.
Director – Mehboob Khan
Result at Oscars – Nominated

No. 2 The Creation of women

It is a 13-minute long film, explaining the creation of man and women through the eyes of Brahma, two trained dancers are enacting the part and one actor as God. This was the second movie of Indian Cinema to get nominated after Mother India. This was the first entry for this film’s producer, Ismail Merchant, into Oscars and he got enough visibility in the entertainment industry and produced various movies which were also notably honored at Academy Awards.

Year of nomination – 1961
Category – Best Short Subject (Live Action)
Main Cast- Bhaskar, Dinu, Anjali Devi
Director – Charles F Schwep
Result at Oscars – Nominated

No. 3 The house that Ananda built

It is a 1968 short film which got nominated for best documentary at Oscars. The short story narrates through the life of a typical Oriya Family residing in a rural village in Nagpur, focusing on the life of a peasant and the relationship he shared with his family members.

Year of nomination – 1969
Cast-Not Known
Category – Best Documentary (Short)
Director – Fali Bilimoria
Result at Oscars – Nominated

No. 4 An Encounter with the Faces

This movie focused on displaying the plight of children in an orphanage. It gave a unique perspective through the eyes of orphaned children and bagged a nomination under best documentary for its creative vision and story.

Year of nomination – 1978
Main Cast- Not Known
Category – Best Documentary (Short)
Director – Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Result at Oscars – Nominated

No. 5 Gandhi

Gandhi is a 1982 period biographical film on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, it was very well known for the historically accurate portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi’s life. It received eleven nominations at the 55th Academy Awards, winning eight of them including for best picture and director. Bhanu Athaiya was the first Indian Costume designer to win Oscar for her authentic designs in Gandhi.

Year of nomination – 1982
Category – Best Film/Best Costume design
Director – Richard Attenborough
Main Cast– Ben Kingsley, Richard Vernon, Roshan Seth.
Result at Oscars – Won

No. 6 Salaam Bombay!

It is an Indian Hindi – language drama film portraying the lives of children living in the slums of Bombay and their fight with drugs, prostitution, and child labor. It achieved significant critical acclaim at Cannes Film Festival (1988) as well as earned itself a nomination in the Oscars. The film was co-written, directed, and co-produced by Mira Nair.

Year of nomination – 1989
Category – Best Foreign Language Film
Director – Mira Nair
Main Cast– Shafiq Syed, Nana Patekar, Irrfan Khan
Result at Oscars – Nominated

No. 7 Lagaan

Lagaan released internationally as Lagaan: Once upon a time in India, is a critically acclaimed musical sports film revolving around a small village in India, whose inhabitants are burdened by high taxes, years of drought and gets into an extraordinary situation where they have to win a game of cricket to avoid paying the taxes they owe. It became the third Indian film to be nominated for the Academy Award for the best foreign-language film after Mother India (1957) and Salam Bombay! (1988).

Year of nomination – 2002
Category – Best Foreign Language Film
Director and Writer – Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast- Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley
Result at Oscars – Nominated

No. 8 Little Terrorist

Little Terrorist is a short Indian film focusing on a 12-year-old Muslim Pakistani boy who unknowingly crosses the Indian border and befriends a Hindu Brahmin boy, Bhola. The film covers their beautiful journey and earned various awards in its collection.

Year of nomination – 2005
Category – Best Short Subject
Director and Writer – Ashvin Kumar
Main Cast – Julfuqar Ali, Sushila Sharma. Meghna Mehtta
Result at Oscars – Nominated

No. 9 Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 film that gained lots of attention internationally and was widely acclaimed for its plot, soundtrack, and cinematography. It was nominated for ten academy awards in 2009 and won eight of them. As 18-year-old Jamal leader (Dev Patel) answers questions on the Indian version of “Who desires to be a Millionaire,” flashbacks show however he got there. Group of a stable of young thieves when their mother dies, Jamal and his brother, Salim, survive on the streets of Mumbai. Salim finds the life of crime more agreeable, however, Jamal scrapes by with little jobs till landing a spot on the reality show.

Year of nomination – 2009
Category – Best Original Song, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Score
Director – Danny Boyle
Main Cast – Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Frieda Pinto, Irrfan Khan
Result at Oscars – Won

No. 10 The White Tiger

The White Tiger is a recent film that was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay in Oscars. The movie shared a satirical approach to classism and casteism in India. The movie follows the protagonist’s escape from poverty and becoming a successful entrepreneur in modern-day India. Key highlights of the movie are-