Chaitanya Tamhane, Adarsh Gourav land Spirit Award nominations

Filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane and actor Adarsh Gourav have bagged nominations at the Film Independent Spirit Award in the best international feature and male lead category, respectively.The duo are the only Indian artistes to have been recognised for their work at the 36th edition of the annual awards, which is dedicated to independent filmmakers.

The Spirit Awards revealed its nomination slate on its YouTube channel on Tuesday night.Tamhane, 33, secured the nod for the festival favourite "The Disciple", his second directorial after the much-acclaimed 2014 movie "Court".

The Marathi language movie, which won the best screenplay award at Venice Film Festival last year, looks at the world of classical musicians on the fringes of success. The Disciple, starring Aditya Modak in the lead, has Oscar winner Alfonso Cuaron on board as executive producer.The film also received the prestigious FIPRESCI award, given by international film critics, in Venice and earned the Amplify Voices Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Disciple will compete with Brazil's Bacurau by directors Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonca Filho, filmmaker Philippe Lacote's Night of the Kings (Ivory Coast), Hungary's Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time by Lili Horvat and Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina) directed by Jasmila Zbanic, for the best international film trophy.

Gourav, meanwhile, was nominated for his performance in the recent Netflix original "The White Tiger", an American adaptation of the 2008 Aravind Adiga's novel of the same name.

Directed by Ramin Bahrani, the English language film follows Balram's (Gourav) rise from a poor villager to a successful entrepreneur in India, showcasing how hunger and lack of opportunity can build and drive a human being's instinct of survival.

The actor, who made his debut as a lead actor in "The White Tiger", took to Instagram and posted a screenshot of the nomination list.

"I kept reading the other names for a long time. Names of my heroes. A dream within a dream? Congratulations for 'Disciple' Chaitanya Tamhane! (sic)" Gourav, who has previously starred in "My Name is Khan", wrote in the caption.

Gourav's fellow nominees are British-Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed for "Sound of Metal", Hollywood star Chadwick Boseman for his swansong "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", Rob Morgan for "Bull" and Steven Yeun for the critically-acclaimed "Minari".

Nicole Beharie ("Miss Juneteenth"), Viola Davis ("Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"), Sidney Flanigan ("Never Rarely Sometimes Always"), Julia Garner ("The Assistant"), Frances McDormand ("Nomadland"), and Carey Mulligan ("Promising Young Woman") have earned nominations in the best female lead category.

The best feature film category saw nominations for movies like director Chloe Zhao's award season frontrunner "Nomadland", "First Cow" helmed by Kelly Reichard, filmmaker George C Wolfe's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", Lee Isaac Chung's "Minari" and "Never Rarely Sometimes Always" by Eliza Hittman.

The awards will be announced on April 22, three days before the Oscars.