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Nominations for Oscars 2022 announced: Here is the full list
Los Angeles: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Tuesday announced nominations for the 94th annual Academy Awards which included films in a range of genres.
“The Power of the Dog” led among nominated films with 12 nods. The drama’s director, Jane Campion, made history by becoming the first woman to be nominated more than once for best director. The acclaimed New Zealand filmmaker was previously nominated for the 1993 drama, “The Piano” (Last year, “Nomadland” director Chloé Zhao became just the second woman to ever win the award.)
The nine other best picture contenders are “Belfast,” “Coda,” “Don’t Look Up,” “Drive My Car,” “Dune,” “King Richard,” “Licorice Pizza,” “Nightmare Alley,” and “West Side Story.”
Fellow directing nominee Steven Spielberg also set a new record. As the producer of “West Side Story,” which earned a total of seven nominations, Spielberg has now produced 11 films nominated for best picture, a new record for the Oscars.
Denzel Washington extended the record he already holds as the most nominated Black actor, earning his tenth Oscar nomination for his performance in “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” In addition, Will Smith scored his third lead actor Oscar nomination for “King Richard,” a portrait of tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams’s ambitious father. Smith was previously nominated for his roles in “Ali” and “The Pursuit of Happyness.”
The other performers recognised in the Best Actor category are Javier Bardem (“Being the Ricardos”), Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Power of the Dog”) and Andrew Garfield (“tick, tick…BOOM!”).
The contenders vying for the best actress statuette are Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”), Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”), Penélope Cruz (“Parallel Mothers”), Nicole Kidman (“Being the Ricardos”) and Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”).
Netflix has conquered the world of streaming video but the company is still chasing Hollywood’s most coveted prize: The best picture award. However, the streaming giant has a good shot to win this year with “The Power of the Dog. “The company also distributed fellow best picture nominee “Don’t Look Up” as well as the Lin-Manuel Miranda-directed musical “tick, tick…BOOM!”
As the above-listed contenders woke up to some welcome news Tuesday morning, other hopefuls were not so fortunate. Notable Oscar snubs this year included:
Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” which failed to earn a Best Picture nod along with stars Lady Gaga, Adam Driver and supporting player Jared Leto who were all locked out of the acting races — potential casualties of the film’s mixed-to-negative reviews and so-so box-office performance.
“West Side Story” breakout star Rachel Zegler, who won a Golden Globe last month for her performance as María Vasquez, got shut out of the best actress category.
“Dune” director Denis Villeneuve, who was previously nominated for the sci-fi drama “Arrival” (2016), failed to pick up the best director nomination, although “Dune” racked up an impressive 10 nods.
Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” Rebecca Hall’s “Passing” and Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero” — three of the year’s most critically venerated films — walked away empty-handed. While Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim, the two young stars of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza” fell short of acting honors.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” shattered box office records but failed to earn a nod for the Best Picture category.
The Academy Awards ceremony is set to air live from Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre on ABC Sunday, March 27. See the list of nominees below.
Best Picture
Belfast
CODA
Don’t Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Best Actor
Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick… Boom!
Will Smith, King Richard
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Best Supporting Actress
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Judi Dench, Belfast
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
Best Supporting Actor
Ciarán Hinds, Belfast
Troy Kotsur, CODA
Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog
J.K. Simmons, Being the Ricardos
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
Best Director
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Best Adapted Screenplay
CODA
Drive My Car
Dune
The Lost Daughter
The Power of the Dog
Best Original Screenplay
Belfast
Don’t Look Up
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
The Worst Person in the World
Best Cinematography
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story
Best Animated Film
Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon
Best Original Score
Don’t Look Up, Nicholas Britell
Dune, Hans Zimmer
Encanto, Germaine Franco
Parallel Mothers, Alberto Iglesias
The Power of the Dog, Jonny Greenwood
Best Original Song
“Be Alive” from King Richard, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Dixson
“Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto, Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Down to Joy” from Belfast, Van Morrison
“No Time to Die” from No Time to Die, Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell
“Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days, Diane Warren
Best Costume Design
Cruella
Cyrano
Dune
Nightmare Alley
West Side Story
Best Makeup & Hairstyling
Coming 2 America
Cruella
Dune
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
House of Gucci
Best Editing
Don’t Look Up
Dune
King Richard
The Power of the Dog
Tick, Tick… Boom!
Best Visual Effects
Dune
Free Guy
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Best Production Design
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story
Best Sound
Belfast
Dune
No Time to Die
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Best International Film
Drive My Car
Flee
The Hand of God
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
The Worst Person in the World
Best Documentary
Ascension
Attica
Flee
Summer of Soul
Writing with Fire
Best Documentary Short Subject
Audible
Lead Me Home
The Queen of Basketball
Three Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies
Best Animated Short Film
Affairs of the Art
Bestia
Boxballet
Robin Robin
The Windshield Wiper
Best Live-Action Short Film
Ala Kachuu — Take and Run
The Dress
The Long Goodbye
On My Mind
Please Hold
In a music industry that often rewards speed, spectacle, and instant recall, Navjot Ahuja’s journey feels refreshingly different. His story is not built on noise. It is built on patience, discipline, emotional honesty, and a quiet commitment to becoming better with every passing year. After 14 years of struggle, learning, performing, and writing, Navjot stands today as an artist whose success has not changed his centre. If anything, it has only made his purpose clearer.
For Navjot, music has never been about chasing fame alone. It has always been about expression. It is about writing more truthfully, singing more skillfully, understanding himself more deeply, and becoming a kinder human being in the process. That rare clarity is what gives his journey its beauty.
Where It All Began: A Writer Before a Singer
Indian singer and songwriter Navjot Ahuja’s musical journey began in the most familiar of places: school assemblies. But even then, what was growing inside him was not only the desire to sing. It was the need to write.
Long before he saw himself as a performer, he had already discovered the emotional release that writing offered him. For Navjot, words became the first true channel for feeling. Songwriting came before singing because writing was the only way he could let emotions flow through him fully. That inner pull shaped his artistic identity early on.
Like many young musicians, he sharpened his craft by creating renditions of popular songs.
Those experiments became his training ground. But the turning point came in 2012, when he wrote his first original song. That moment did not just mark the beginning of songwriting. It marked the beginning of self-definition.
A Calling He Did Not Chase, But Accepted
What makes the latest Indian singer-songwriter Navjot’s story especially compelling is the way he describes his relationship with music. He does not frame it as a career he aggressively pursued. In his own understanding, music was not something he chose. It was something that chose him.
There was a time when he imagined a very different future for himself. He wanted to become a successful engineer, like many young people shaped by ambition and conventional expectations. But life had a different script waiting for him. During his college years, around 2021, music entered his life professionally and began taking a firmer shape.
That shift was not driven by image-building or industry ambition. It came from acceptance. Navjot embraced the fact that music had claimed him in a way no other path could. That sense of surrender continues to define the artist he is today.
An Artist Guided by Instinct, Not Influence
Unlike many singers who speak openly about idols, icons, and musical role models, Navjot’s creative world is built differently. He does not believe his music comes from imitation or inherited influence. He listens inward.
He has never considered himself shaped by ideals in the traditional sense. In fact, he admits that he does not particularly enjoy listening to songs, especially his own. His decisions as a songwriter and singer come from instinct. He writes what feels right. He trusts what his inner voice tells him. He positions his music according to what he honestly believes in, not what trends demand.
That creative independence gives his work a distinct emotional sincerity. His songs do not feel calculated. They feel alive.
The Long Years of Invisible Struggle
Every artist carries a chapter of struggle, and Navjot’s was long, demanding, and deeply formative. One of the biggest challenges he faced was building continuity as the best new indian singer songwriter in an era where musical collaboration is increasingly fluid.
For emerging singers, especially those trying to build with a band, consistency can be difficult. Instrumentalists today have more opportunities than ever to freelance and perform with multiple artists. While that growth is positive and well deserved, it can make things harder for singers who are still trying to establish a steady team and sound around their work.
For Navjot, one of the most difficult phases came during 2021 and 2022, when he was doing club shows almost every day. It was a period of relentless performance, but not always personal fulfillment. He was largely singing covers because clubs were not open to original songs that audiences did not yet know.
For a new Indian singer and songwriter, that can be a painful compromise. To perform constantly and still not have the freedom to share your own voice requires not just resilience, but restraint.
“Khat” and the Grace of Staying Unchanged
After 14 years of effort, Navjot’s new love song Khat became a defining milestone. Professionally, he acknowledges that the song changed how society viewed him as a musician. It strengthened his place in the public eye and altered his standing in meaningful ways.
Yet personally, he remains unchanged.
That is perhaps the most striking part of his story. Navjot says his routine is still the same. His calm is still the same. His writing process is still the same. He does not want success or failure to interfere with the purity of his art. For him, emotional detachment from public outcomes is essential because the moment an artist becomes too attached to validation, the writing begins to shift.
His joy comes not from numbers, but from the attempt. If he has tried to improve his skill today, if he has written his heart out more honestly than before, then he is at peace.
Growth, Not Glory, Remains the Real Goal
Even now, Navjot is not consumed by labels such as singles artist, performer, or digital success story. His focus remains deeply personal. He wants to sing better. He wants to play instruments better. He wants to understand himself more. And he wants to become a kinder person.
That is what makes Navjot Ahuja’s journey so moving. It is not simply the story of a musician finding recognition. It is the story of an artist who continues to grow inward, even as the world begins to look outward at him. In an age obsessed with applause, Navjot reminds us that the most meaningful success often begins in silence, honesty, and the courage to remain true to oneself.
