Slumdog Millionaire has become the first British film with a heavy Indian presence to scoop as many as 10 Oscar nominations.

The Academy Awards announced yesterday that it was also in contention for the prestigious Best Picture award.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which stars Brad Pitt, lead the field with 13 Oscar nominations.

Young actor Dev Patel (pictured) said he was amazed. “When we first began working on the film I don’t think any of us ever imagined that we might end up attending the Oscars ceremony as a result.”

He added: “I’m just so proud to be a part of this project and I have been overwhelmed by the positive reaction to the film.”

The film has already jumped up the UK box office charts to first place and may sustain its audience numbers thanks to the avalanche of publicity following the Oscar nominations.

Simon Beaufoy said, “Secretly and sometimes not so secretly, this is the nomination that floats in every screenwriter’s dreams. I am fantastically happy and honoured- not just for myself but for Vikas Swarup’s wonderful novel without which I would have never started my journey to the world’s Maximum City, Mumbai.”

In fact there has already been more tension reported over the author Vikas Swarup. The former ambassador told this week’s Eastern Eye newspaper he was “disappointed” not to be invited to or better acknowledged at the Golden Globes awards ceremony.

Oscar nominations for Slumdog Millionaire have been in the following categories:
- Best Picture
- Achievement in Directing for Danny Boyle
- Adapted Screenplay for Simon Beaufoy
- Cinematography
- Film Editing
- Sound Editing
- Sound Mixing
- Original Score
- Two nominations for Original song for ‘Jai Ho’ and ‘O Saya’.