Dev Patel’s nomination to the Oscars for his film Lion is surely special as this is the third time an Indian origin actor has achieved this feat. The first nomination had come in 1935 when Merle Oberon was nominated for The Dark Angel. Then, in 2004, Ben Kingsley bagged a nomination for House of Sand and Fog.
Dev’s film Lion has bagged six Academy Award Nominations as the entire list of all those competing for the most desirable award in cinema were announced on Tuesday. The film Lion is based in India and directed by Garth Davis.
Speaking about his reaction to being nominated, Dev said, “Ok, so I just received a call to say that I’ve been nominated for an Academy Award… “To be totally honest, the news hasn’t made it’s way into my brain yet, but I’m looking at these beautiful smiling faces around me… Faces of the ones I love. And I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude.”
While this marks Dev Patel’s debut at the Oscars, there is something more that makes this nomination for LION so special, “What makes this moment so much more poignant is that I’ve just wrapped shooting another film in India. This enthralling country holds such a deep place in my heart, and it is where Saroo’s journey was born.”
The film has earned five other nominations including the Best Film, Best Actor in A Supporting Role (Female), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Original Score. Patel is starring in the movie alongside Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara, Sunny Pawar, Priyanka Bose, Deepti Naval and Tanishtha Chatterjee.
