The nominations for the 95th Academy Awards aka the Oscars 2023 were announced by actors Riz Ahmed and Alison Williams this evening [IST], and India ended up scoring three nominations overall. MM Keeravani composed Naatu Naatu song from the SS Rajamouli directed RRR movie has been nominated for Best Original song, whereas 2 Indian-made documentaries titled All That Breathes and The Elephant Whisperers have been nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film and Best Documentary Short respectively.

Hearty congratulations to All That Breathes and The Elephant Whisperers. This is the first time India has had so many nominations...

I believe this is just the beginning. Jai Hind. 🇮🇳

— rajamouli ss (@ssrajamouli) January 24, 2023

Omg Omg Omg 🐘♥️ so so grateful ♥️🐘 https://t.co/QSmX1WDACB

— Guneet Monga (@guneetm) January 24, 2023

True story - your Documentary Feature nominees are... #Oscars #Oscars95 pic.twitter.com/NHf86Hskqw

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) January 24, 2023

RRR (2022), All That Breathes (2022) and The Elephant Whisperers (2022) join a select group of Indian films* to be nominated at the Oscars, namely Mother India (1957), The House That Ananda Built (1968), An Encounter With Faces (1979), Salaam Bombay (1988), Lagaan (2001), Little Terrorist (2004) and Writing With Fire (2021). 

*Not to be confused with Oscar nominated Indian productions - The Creation of Woman (1961), A Room with a View (1987), Howards End (1993), The Remains of the Day (1994) and films that fetched Indians nominations - Bead Game (1978), Gandhi (1983), Slumdog Millionaire (2009), 127 hours (2011) and Life of Pi (2013). 

Only 5 Indian nationals have so far won an Oscar in the history of these prestigious film awards. Late Bhanu Athaiya was the first Indian to win an Academy award for Costume design in Gandhi (1983). Late Satyajit Ray received an honourary Oscar in 1992. Slumdog Millionaire (2009) fetched 3 Oscars in total for AR Rahman (Best Original Song, Best Original Score), lyricist Gulzar (Best Original Score) and Resul Pookutty (Best Sound Mixing). 

Congrats @M_M_Keeravani garu ….I am sure you are going to win Along with Chandra bose ji ..best wishes to RRR team! https://t.co/EvRyEzgKoi

— A.R.Rahman (@arrahman) January 24, 2023

Huge huge congratulations to @guneetm and @mmkeeravaani for their outstanding achievements in bagging nominations at #AcademyAwards a great moment of pride for Indian cinema… Way to go.

— resul pookutty (@resulp) January 24, 2023

Related: Naatu Naatu singer Rahul Sipligunj reacts to Oscar Noms   oscars-2023-the-elephant-whisperers-india