Chennai based classical singer Bombay Jayashri has been nominated for 2013 Academy Awards for lyrics of Tamil song 'Pi's lullaby' in the film Life of Pi.

Classical singer Bombay Jayashree has been nominated for Oscars for the best original song for her lullaby in Life of Pi. The song has been written, composed and sung by Jayashree for the Canadian composer Mychael Danna, who scored the music for the film.

Congratulating the Carnatic vocalist on her nomination, Oscar-winner A R Rahman tweeted, "Congrats to Bombay Jayashree. First ever Academy Award nomination for a Tamil song."

The soundtrack of Life of Pi has won considerable acclaim across the world and Jayashree's mellifluous title track has become a sort of signature tune of the movie. After AR Rahman brought home the Oscars in 2009, India has one more Oscar possibility this year.

Life of Pi has 11 Odcar nominations in total which include Best Director,Best Film, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Music Original Score, Music Original Song, Film Editing, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects.

After Slumdog Millionaire swept the Oscars in 2009, Lee's film has again brought an Indian story to the fore by getting the second highest nominations at the 85th Academy awards announced.

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To Jayashri Ramnath, it is unbelievable that someone sitting in Chennai and singing classical music could get a shot at the Oscars. "It is by the grace of gods and my gurus," says the 46-year-old singer, better known as Bombay Jayashri.

The city-based classical musician and playback singer has been nominated for the 2013 Academy Awards for writing the Tamil song Pi's Lullaby for director Ang Lee's fantasy epic Life of Pi. She shares the nomination for 'Best Original Song' with Canadian music director Mychael Danna, also nominated for Best Original Score. She and Danna are pitted against four, other musician-lyricist combinations, including British singer Adele for Skyfall, J Ralph for Chasing Ice, Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane for Ted and Claude-Michel Schonberg, Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil for Les Miserables. Life of Pi has received 11 nominations, including for best film. The film was truly intl, says Jayashri

Jayashri says the "most beautiful part" about the nomination is that she got it for a truly international movie, which was directed by a Taiwanese filmmaker,scored by a Canadian musician, and picturised on an actor from Delhi. "Ang Lee and Mychael Danna were looking for an Indian motherly voice and they came across my name," recalled Jayashri. She said she had conversations with the legendary Lee over phone and via videoconferencing. "Ang Lee told me what he exactly wanted and was particular about the way each word sounded as it had to go with the visuals. If you see the movie, the visuals have a great connection with the way the story unfolds," said Jayashri.

Danna was present with her through the recording at studios in Mumbai and Chennai. Writing the song was easy, said the singer. "What I wrote is something that every mother has on her lip when she cuddles her child," said Jayashri about her short song, that uses simple, choicewords to show a mother's affection for her child. The Carnatic musician in her says that the classical form,with its complex improvisational framework, provides enough scope for not just singing but writing too. Jayashri, who grew up in Mumbai, was first trained by Carnatic musician T R Balamani. She received training in Hindustani music. Later, she moved to Chennai and was trained under senior musician and violinist Lalgudi Jayaraman.

Jayashri became a sought after playback singer after a hit with the song, Vaseegara, in the 2001-Tamil movie Minnale. She has sung for various film composers including A R Rahman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Harris Jayaraj, for Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam movies as well. Apart from jugalbandis with Hindustani musicians like Shubha Mudgal, Jayashri has collaborated with several foreign musicians and performed in India and abroad.