Indian film 'Jal' in running for two Oscars

New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) Girish Malik's National Award winning film "Jal" has found a place in the Oscar contenders of 2014 in two categories -- Best Picture and Best Original Score.

The film, which has the backdrop of water scarcity and tells the story of Bakka, a person gifted with a special ability to find water in the desert, features in the reminder list of productions eligible for the 87th Academy Awards.

This apart, the film's screenplay has also been invited to the Oscar Library for their permanent core collection.

"'Jal' is in the race as one of the Oscar contenders in two most prestigious categories - Best Picture and Best Original Score alongside path-breaking films like 'Interstellar', 'Exodus', '300 Rise of Empire' and other Hollywood biggies," Puneet Singh, director of One World Films Pvt Ltd, the film's production banner, told IANS.

The film features Purab Kohli, Kirti Kulhari and Tannishtha Chatterjee in prominent roles.

Malik, who stepped behind the camera for the first time with the film, says that it is wonderful to get noticed on such a huge platform.

"'Jal' has been shortlisted as one of the Oscar contenders in the mainstream Best Picture category and not the Best Foreign Language film category, which means it will be competing with the Hollywood biggies to find a space for itself and hopefully get noticed on this stupendous platform.

"It was a tremendous struggle to make this film and I am happy and thankful that it's being noticed on the biggest platform for cinema," he said.

The music and background score for the film has been composed by Sonu Nigam and Bickram Ghosh.

The other Indian film nominated for the Best Original score is "Kochadaiiyaan", which has compositions by A.R. Rahman.

The double Oscar winner is also nominated for two more of his Hollywood projects -- "Million Dollar Arm" and "The Hundred-Foot Journey".

The final nomination list will be announced Jan 15, 2015, while the presentation ceremony will be held Feb 22, 2015 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.