Reliance Entertainment bullish over Oscar with 'Bridge of Spies'

With nominations across six categories, including Best Picture, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Entertainment is among the front-runners for the 88th Academy Awards for the "Bridge of Spies", which it presented with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Pictures and Fox 2000 Pictures.

The Tom Hanks-starrer, a dramatic thriller set against the backdrop of a series of historic events, is competing for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay (Matthew Charman, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen), Best Original Score (Thomas Newman), Best Production Design (Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo and Bernard Henrich), Best Supporting Actor (Mark Rylance) and Best Sound Mixing (Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Drew Kunin) categories at the Oscars.

The nominations were announced in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Apart from the fact that Indian-American Pixar artist and director Sanjay Patel's animated short film "Sanjay's Super Team" and British filmmaker of Indian-origin Asif Kapadia's "Amy" have landed a nomination each, the presence of "Bridge of Spies" in the Oscar race is a celebratory moment for Reliance Entertainment.

Reliance Entertainment is the media and entertainment arm of the Reliance Group, engaged in the creation and distribution of content across films, television, digital and gaming platforms. It also has a global footprint that was expanded since 2009 with Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios.

"Bridge of Spies" tells the story of James Donovan (Hanks), a Brooklyn lawyer who finds himself thrust into the center of the Cold War when the CIA sends him on the near-impossible task to negotiate the release of a captured American U-2 pilot.

The movie has also scored big on nominations at the British Academy Film Awards, organised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). With "Carol", "Bridge of Spies" is leading the BAFTA race with nine nominations apiece.

It is competing in the Best Film, Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Supporting Actor (Mark Rylance), Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Music, Best Cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), Best Editing (Michael Kahn), Best Production Design and Best Sound (Drew Kunin, Richard Hymns, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom).

The 88th Academy Awards will take place on February 28 here, while the BAFTA Awards will be given away on February 14.