Boyle urged to share Oscar nod with LoveleenTondon

London: In what could be a fresh controversy, a leading US women's campaigner has launched an online protest demanding that British director Danny Boyle should share his Oscar nomination for Slumdog Millionaire with his female co-director Loveleen Tandon.

Tandon was appointed as the casting director for Slumdog Millionaire but was later promoted as co-director of the film due to her contribution to the script, which Boyle called "indispensable".

But now, Jan Lisa Huttner of Audience Supporting Women Artists Now (ASWAN) has began a campaign for the joint nomination for Boyle and Tandon, whose name does not appear on the Academy Awards ballot paper, Contactmusic reported.

"Women find it harder to be able to make films and have their films seen. That's why this is such an important issue," Huttner said.

Generally only one person is named at the ballot but last year Joel and Ethan had jointly accepted the honour for their film No Country For Old Men.

However Tandon, who not only selected child actors from Mumbai slums but also convinced the director to shoot the initial parts of the film in Hindi, insisted that Boyle's nomination was fair.

"My credit is not 'Directed by'. It is 'Co-Director (India)'. I am greatly honoured by the credit I have been accorded," Tandon said.

"It would be a great injustice if the credit I have should have the effect of diminishing Danny Boyle's magnificent achievement," she added.

Tandon also wrote the Hindi dialogues for the Mumbai-based film, which recently earned 10 Oscar nods.