Oscars 2023: A list of all the Indians that have won the Academy Award

Oscars 2023: India bagged two Oscar awards at the 95th Academy Awards on Monday; Naatu Naatu won Best Original Song, and The Elephant Whisperers won the Best Documentary Short award

Monday morning was special for India. It bagged two Oscar awards at the 95th Academy Awards. Naatu Naatu from the movie RRR won the award for Best Original Song. The Elephant Whisperers by Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Mongawon won the Best Documentary Short award.

With this, India now has seven Oscar awards. Here is a list of Indians who have won Academy Awards.

Bhanu Athaiya (Best Costume Design)

Athaiya won the Academy Award for "Best Costume Design" for Ben Kingsley-starrer Gandhi, released in 1982. Athaiya had worked with several international directors, including Conrad Rooks for Siddhartha in 1972 and Richard Attenborough for Gandhi in 1982. In total, she worked in over 90 Indian films and worked with the biggest names like Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor, Yash Chopra and Ashutosh Gowariker.

Satyajit Ray (Honorary Award)

In 1992, the Academy awarded Ray with an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. While announcing the awards at the 64th Academy Awards, Actor Audrey Hepburn said they appreciated the "rare mastery of the art of motion pictures and his profound humanism, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world." 

Also read: Oscars 2023 full winner list: Naatu Naatu bags Best Original song award

Ray could not attend the ceremony personally because of his ill health. But he sent a video message in which he was seen as saying, "It's an extraordinary experience for me to be here tonight to receive this magnificent award, certainly the best achievement of my moviemaking career."

Ray passed away less than a month later, on April 23, 1992.

Rosul Pookutty (Best Sound Mixing)

Pookutty won the Oscar for his work in the movie Slumdog Millionaire at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009. He won the award along with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke. He has engineered sound for various movies like Musafir (2004), Zinda (2006), Traffic Signal (2007), Gandhi, My Father (2007), Saawariya (2007), Dus Kahaniyaan, Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (2009), and Enthiran (2010).

AR Rahman (Best Original Score and Best Original Song)

In the 2009 Oscar awards, Rahman bagged two Academy Awards for his work in Slumdog Millionaire. He won the Best Original Score award for the song "Jai Ho" in the film. Rahman has been one of the most widely appreciated musicians in the Indian film industry. Following the Oscars, Rahman was given the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award, in 2010. 

Gulzar (Best Original Song)

Gulzar shared the Oscar for Best Original Song with A R Rahman for writing the lyrics of "Jai Ho". In 2013, Gulzar was given the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in Indian cinema.

Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga (Best Documentary Short)

In 2022, Gonsalves made her directorial debut with The Elephant Whisperers. The documentary explores the relationship between a couple and Raghu, an orphaned baby elephant. It was produced by Guneet Monga. It was made available for worldwide streaming on Netflix on December 8.

On Monday, The Elephant Whisperers won the award for Best Documentary Short at the 95th Oscar Awards.

MM Keeravani (Best Original Song)

The "Naatu Naatu" song from the movie RRR won the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 95th Academy Awards. It is composed by MM Keeravani, with lyrics by Chandrabose and vocals by Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava.

"Naatu Naatu" won in the same category at the Golden Globes earlier. It also won Best Song at the Critics' Choice Awards and the Hollywood Critics Association.