The wait for the big Oscars night is getting longer by the day.
As the "Slumdog Millionaire" team gears up for the grand occasion, Indians are praying that February 22 turns out to be A R Rahman and Resul Pokutty's tryst with destiny.
Rahman is already in Los Angeles and Pokutty will join him and other members of the Danny Boyle film which has won 10 Oscar nominations.
Rahman, 43, was nominated for Best Original Score and his numbers "Jai ho" and "O saya" were shortlisted for the Best Original Song.
In the original score category, Rahman will compete with Alexandre Desplat ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"), James Newton Howard ("Defiance"), Danny Elfman ("Milk") and Thomas Newman ("WALL-E").
Rahman is pitted against Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman ("Down to earth" from "WALL-E") in the original song category. Gulzar has penned the lyrics of "Jai ho" and Mathangi 'Maya' Arulpragasam aka M.I.A. For "O saya".
Rahman has already bagged a Golden Globe, BAFTA, Satellite Award, and Los Angeles Film Critics Association award among others.
Pokutty is vying for an Oscar with his colleagues Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke for sound mixing along with those associated with "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "The Dark Knight", "WALL-E and "Wanted".
Pokutty has won a BAFTA and a more recent Cinema Audio Society (CAS) awards for best sound mixing. He is the first Indian to win the CAS award.
With the stakes high, bookies in India are also keeping high hopes on "Slumdog Millionaire" and according to sources about Rs 2 billion is involved.
Only two Indian have won the coveted Oscar till date, Bhanu Athaiya (for costume design in "Gandhi") and Satyajit Ray, who was given an honorary Oscar for his contribution to films.
Apart from "Slumdog Millionaire", two films in the race for Oscars have an Indian connection.
Nominated in the Documentary (Short) category, both "The Final Inch" and "Smile Pinki" deal with people's struggle against physical disorders in India villages.
While "The Final Inch" is about the fight of a man (Mohammed Gulzar Saifi) against polio in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut district, "Smile Pinki" tells the tale of a girl in the state's Varanasi town whose face cleft lip made her a social outcast.
Made in Bhojpuri and Hindi, "Smile Pinki" revolves around poor six-year-old Pinki and is directed by Emmy-nominated producer Megan Mylan.
"Slumdog Millionaire" also won nominations for Boyle (best director) and Simon Beaufoy (best adapted screenplay) besides in categories like cinematography, sound editing and film editing.
The film tells the story of Jamal, an uneducated boy from the slums who finds the solutions to a television quiz show's questions by recalling events from his poverty-stricken past.
David Fincher's romantic periodical "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", starring Brad Pitt, topped this year's race with 13 nominations.
