We Indians missed the excitement of the announcement "And the winner is ..." on the stage of the Oscar Awards ceremony while waiting with nail-biting silence to hear the announcement of the Oscar being awarded to Satyajit Ray. It is true that the Award came to Satyajit Ray quite late (1991). But Ray is the only Indian who had the distinction of receiving an Honorary Academy Award (Statuette), an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement "in recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures, and of his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world." Nominations for Oscar are invited every year from around the world and each country can send their entries for the award through some recognized groups or organizations. India had never been an appropriate contestant for receiving the award as compared with other nations like France, Italy or Russia. In the category of best Foreign Language Film (film made in a language other than English), which is now renamed as International Film, India fell behind many developing countries of the world like Ivory Coast, Algeria, Argentina and also behind small countries like Denmark, Holland and Switzerland.
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