'Sacred Games,' 'Lust Stories' get nominated for International Emmy Awards

It's a triple treat for Anurag Kashyap as his directed works have got three nominations at the International Emmy Awards. While Sacred Games received a Best Drama Category nomination, Lust Stories managed a Best TV Movie/Mini Series nomination. Both were co-directed by him. Meanwhile, Radhika Apte, who appears in Kashyap's short in Lust Stories, is competing in the Best Performance by an Actress category.
Anurag, on Instagram, wrote, "What a day. 3 Emmy Nominations . 1 lust stories (best miniseries) 2.Sacred Games (best Drama) 3. Radhika Apte(best actress-Lust Stories)." His post had International Emmy, Netflix and other Lust Stories directors, Zoya Akhtar, Karan Johar and Dibakar Banerjee, and his Sacred Games showrunner/co-director/co-producer Vikramaditya Motwane, tagged. Johar, Motwane and Sacred Games S02 co-director Neeraj Ghaywan also congratulated their teams.
#SacredGames got Emmy-Nated!!! A massive Congrats, Hug and Kiss to the whole team. You guys are amazing.
— Vikramaditya Motwane (@VikramMotwane) September 19, 2019
In the Best Drama category, Sacred Games is competing with Brazil's Contra Todos Season 3, Germany's Bad Banks and UK's McMafia. Notably, Nawazuddin Siddiqui appears in both Sacred Games and McMafia, so double congratulatory wish is on the way for him. Meanwhile, anthology film Lust Stories is eyeing the trophy alongside Brazil's Se Eu Fechar Os Olhos Agora, Hungary's Trezor and Australia's Safe Harbour.
Apte, in her category, has Jenna Coleman (The Cry), Marjorie Estiano (Brazil's Sob Pressao 2) and Marina Gera (Hungary's Orok Tel) as her competitors. In Lust Stories, she features as a college professor named Kalindi engaged in a sexual relationship with her student named Tejas.
Notably, the Netflix Original series and the four-shorts collection aren't the only ones from India. In Non-Scripted entertainment category, we've Amazon Prime Video's The Remix as one of the nominations. The music reality show that has Sunidhi Chauhan, Amit Trivedi, Nucleya as judges, is facing competition from La Voz Season 2 (The Voice, Argentina), Taboe (Belgium) and The Real Full Monty: Ladies Night (UK).
For the uninitiated, the International Emmy Award recognizes the best television programs produced and aired outside the United States. It is held annually in the US in November. The Primetime Emmy awards, meanwhile, focus on American primetime television programming. This year, it'll be held on September 22 at Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles. As usual, Game of Thrones has received the maximum nominations at 14.
Meanwhile, congratulatory messages started pouring in from all quarters of Bollywood. Rajkummar Rao, who played Shamshad Alam in Anurag's Gangs of Wasseypur Part 2, wrote, "I am so so proud...Congratulations. This is HUGE," and tagged Apte, Anurag, Zoya and others. Siddiqui, basking in his success, wrote, "Congratulations #AnuragKashyap you beauty, the epitome of innovation in Cinema, making Indians proud across the world."
Congratulations #AnuragKashyap you beauty, the epitome of innovation in Cinema, making Indians proud across the world, First for GOW being the only Indian film shortlisted by the Guardian secondly Sacred Games being nominated at the Emmy's
— Nawazuddin Siddiqui (@Nawazuddin_S) September 19, 2019
3 Cheers to Vikram, Neeraj Team SG
Oh my goddd...this is really really really exciting...wow wow wow ❤️🙏🏻 🎉 #luststories @karanjohar #zoya #anuragkashyap #dibakarbanerjee @RonnieScrewvala @ashidua_fue and all the cast members 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 @radhika_apte yay to your nomination.This is so cool 🇮🇳 https://t.co/FT42hprkKC
— bhumi pednekar (@bhumipednekar) September 19, 2019
This year, maintaining its theme of being diverse and cosmopolitan, the International Emmy Award has 44 nominations across 11 categories from 21 countries, with shows from Brazil and the UK leading the pack. The 47th edition of the award will be held at the Hilton New York on November 25. Bruce L Paisner, President-CEO, International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, congratulated the nominees.
"The diversity, geographic spread and quality of this year's nominees is a testament to the increasing wealth of outstanding television being created on a global scale. We congratulate the nominees for their outstanding achievements," Paisner said yesterday. This year, CNN-PBS journalist Christiane Amanpour and GoT co-creators and showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss will also be given special awards by the International Academy.