'Paheli', 'Morning Raga' out of the race for Oscars

New York, Jan 31 (IANS) "Paheli", India's official entry to the Oscars in the foreign language film category, was swept out of the race when the nominations for the 78th Annual Academy Awards were announced Tuesday evening.

Another Indian film - "Morning Raga" produced by UTV and directed by Mahesh Dattani - too met the same fate. The film starring Perizaad Zorabian and Shabana Azmi was entered for the best picture, best director, best actress and best music categories, but did not reach the nomination list.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Tuesday announced the Oscar nominations at a presentation in Beverly Hills, California.

"Paheli", produced by superstar Shah Rukh Khan and directed by Amol Palekar, is an adaptation of Vijaydan Detha's folk tale about a woman falling in love with a ghost. It stars Shah Rukh and Rani Mukerji in the main roles.

"Morning Raga" is the story of a Carnatic music vocalist whose ambition to perform in a big city gets thwarted due to an accident that kills her son and her friend, a violin player.

The films that were nominated in the best foreign film category were Italy's "Don't Tell" (this was the 27th Academy Award nomination, including 10 wins, for Italy), France's "Joyeux Noël", Palestine's "Paradise Now", Germany's "Sophie Scholl - The Final Days" and South Africa's "Tsotsi".

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