The Best Picture category for the 85th Academy Awards is highly competitive this year with nine films fighting for the golden statuette.
'Life of Pi', the survival story of an Indian boy lost in the ocean with a Bengal tiger will fight closely with political dramas like Spielberg's 'Lincoln', Ben Affleck's 'Argo', and Katheryn Bigelow's 'Zero Dark Thirty', a film on the manhunt for Osama bin Laden.
The other films in the race for best picture are David O Russell's comedy 'Silver Linings Playbook', Tom Hooper's musical 'Les Miserables', Michael Haneke's 'Amour', Quentin Tarantino's civil-war set western 'Django Unchained' and Benh Zeitlin's 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'.
Taiwanese-American filmmaker Lee, who chose an entirely Indian cast for 'Pi'and shot some scenes in India, is in the race for the best director trophy with Spielberg, Russell, Haneke and Zeitlin.
'Pi', which starred Delhi boy Suraj Sharma in lead and noted Indian actors like Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Adil Hussain, also gained nominations in categories like Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score, Orginal Son (Pi's lullaby), Production Design, Best Adapted Screenplay, Visual Effects, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.
Daniel Day-Lewis is leading in the Best Actor category for his widely-praised portrayal of the 16th US President Abraham Lincoln in the Reliance-DreamWorks produced 'Lincoln'. The film follows Lincoln's struggle to abolish slavery as the country goes for a civil war.
The other contenders in the best actor category are Bradley Cooper for 'Silver Linings Playbook' (also starring Indian actor Anupam Kher), 'Danzel Washington for 'Flight', Joaquin Phoenix for 'The Master' and Hugh Jackman for 'Les Miserables'.
Actress Emma Stone and Seth MacFarlane announced the nominations today at Hollywood. (MORE)