India''s Oscar hopes dashed, Rahman, Anwar return empty handed

Los Angeles, Feb 28 (PTI) A R Rahman failed torecreate his ''Slumdog Millionaire'' Oscar magic this year,losing out in the Best Original Score and Best Songcategories at the 83rd Academy Awards here today.

Indian hopes were further dashed when NRI editorTariq Anwar failed to bag the Best Film Editing trophy forthe British drama ''The King''s Speech'', which went to AngusWall and Kirk Baxter of ''The Social Network''.

Rahman, dressed in a black sherwani, performed hisnominated track ''If I Rise'' from the the Danny Boyle film ''127Hours'' with British popstar Florence Welch to much applause.

But the 45-year-old lost the Best Song trophy toRandy Newman who won for his composition ''We Belong Together''from ''Toy Story'' 3.

The golden statuette for the Best Original Score wentto composer duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross who won fortheir soundtrack in the fantasy blockbuster ''The SocialNetwork''.

Rahman was hoping to repeat his golden run atthe 2009 Oscars, where he won two statuettes for his music inanother of Boyle''s film, the Mumbai based potboiler''Slumdog Millionaire''.

The ''Mozart of Madras'' missed the golden trophy lastyear too, after his song ''Na Na'' (from ''Couple''s Retreat'')failed to get a nomination despite being in the longlist for the ''Best Song'' category.

Earlier this year, the ''Jai Ho'' hitmaker had lost outon a Golden Globe for Best Score to Trent Reznor and AtticusRoss, but won a Critics Choice award for the "hauntingtracks" and "wonderful crescendos" of ''127 Hours''.

Rahman had won a BAFTA nomination for the same, buthad lost the trophy to Alexandre Desplat, who won for hisscore in ''The King''s Speech''.

Rahman, who was honoured with a Padma Bhushanlast year, had also enjoyed a golden run at the 52nd GrammyAwards, where he had again bagged two gramophones for hismusic in ''Slumdog Millionaire''.

''127 Hours'', starring James Franco as real-lifemountain climber Aron Ralston, who cut off his arm to escapefrom beneath a boulder after being trapped for more than fivedays, had won six nominations including Best Film, butreturned empty handed just like Rahman.

Earlier ''Peepli Live'', India''s official entry to theOscars had failed to make it to the final nine films whichwere nominated in the Best Foreign Film category, which wasfinally won by Danish film ''In a Better World''. .