89th Oscars: 'La La Land' lands 14 nominations, Rahman out of race (Roundup)

Hollywood romantic musical comedy-drama film "La La Land" is nominated across 14 categories -- equalling a record previously set by "Titanic" and "All About Eve" -- for the 89th Academy Awards, it was announced here on Tuesday. Indian composer A.R. Rahman missed the race to the golden statuette, while Indian-origin British actor Dev Patel has one nomination for "Lion".

"La La Land", which won seven Golden Globes earlier this year, has been nominated in categories like Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Ryan Gosling), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Emma Stone) and Best Directing (Damien Chazelle).

"Moonlight" and "Arrival" got eight nominations each, while "Lion", a Garth Davis directorial set in India and Australia, features in six categories of the nomination pack, which displays diversity to avert last year's #OscarsSoWhite controversy.

Interestingly, Viola Davis has become the first black actress to earn three Oscar nominations. This year, her role in "Fences" has fetched her a nomination in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category, which even feature two other black actresses -- Naomie Harris ("Moonlight") and Octavia Spencer ("Hidden Figures").

Celebrities like Terrence Howard and Brie Larson joined Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs to reveal the 89th Oscars nominations in two batches.

While Tamil movie "Visaranai", India's Oscar entry for the Best Foreign Language Film was out of contention in an initial list itself, Rahman -- who had won two Oscars in 2009 -- lost out on his chance at two nominations for his work for "Pele: Birth of a Legend", on Tuesday.

Rahman's name featured in an initial list of 145 scores in contention for a nomination in the Original Score category. Also, "Ginga", his acclaimed number from the 2016 biographical film, was part of a long list of 91 songs competing for a spot in the final nominations for the Original Song category.

Among the top categories, Gosling will vie for Best Actor in a Leading Role with Casey Affleck ("Manchester by the Sea"), Denzel Washington ("Fences"), Viggo Mortensen ("Captain Fantastic") and Andrew Garfield ("Hacksaw Ridge").

Stone will compete against Isabelle Huppert ("Elle"), Ruth Negga ("Loving"), Natalie Portman ("Jackie") and Meryl Streep ("Florence Foster Jenkins") for the Best Actress in a Leading Role trophy.

To win Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Oscar, Dev will have to defeat Mahershala Ali ("Moonlight"), Jeff Bridges ("Hell or High Water"), Lucas Hedges ("Manchester by the Sea") and Michael Shannon ("Nocturnal Animals").

For Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Viola Davis ("Fences"), Naomie Harris ("Moonlight"), Nicole Kidman ("Lion"), Octavia Spencer ("Hidden Figures") and Michelle Williams ("Manchester by the Sea" will have to fight it out to be victorious.

"La La Land" will face tough competition from "Arrival", "Hacksaw Ridge", "Hidden Figures", "Lion", "Moonlight", "Fences", "Hell or High Water" and "Manchester by the Sea" to receive the Best Picture honour.

"Land of Mine (Denmark), "A Man Called Ove" (Sweden), "The Salesman" (Iran), Tanna (Australia) and Toni Erdmann (Germany), on the other hand, will battle it out win the Best Foreign Language Film award.

Best Directing nominees are Denis Villeneuve ("Arrival"), Mel Gibson ("Hacksaw Ridge"), Damien Chazelle ("La La Land"), Kenneth Lonergan ("Manchester by the Sea") and Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight").

In the Best Animated Feature, the competition is between "Kubo and the Two Strings", "Moana", "My Life as a Zucchini", "The Red Turtle" and "Zootopia".

In the music category, "Jackie", "La La Land", "Lion", "Moonlight" and "Passengers" are up against Best Original Score award.

The prestigious Academy Awards will be handed over to winners in a star-studded ceremony on February 26 here.

--IANS

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