The most-talked about movies of the year-Chak De! India, Om Shanti Om, Guru and Taare Zameen Par-lead the pack but Life in a Metro, a low-budget film that received critical acclaim, has emerged as the dark horse.

While Aamir Khan’s path-breaking directorial debut Taare Zameen Par has bagged nominations in 17 categories, Shah Rukh Khan’s stupendous hits of this year, Chak De! India and Om Shanti Om (OSO), have notched up 12 and nine nominations respectively. Mani Ratnam’s Guru has got 14 nominations while Anurag Basu’s Life in a Metro has got 15.

The industry’s most glamorous awards ceremony, to be held on January 10 at the MMRDA Grounds in Bandra, Mumbai, is not so much about star rivalry as it is about the celebration of sheer cinematic excellence.

Both Chak De and Taare feature in top categories like Best Film and Best Director. Shah Rukh is also nominated for the Best Actor category for his performance in Chak De.

Year 2007 has seen the audience hail some films that departed from the conventional success formulae—and the awards celebrate them, too. Gandhi My Father, an Anil Kapoor production, gets six nominations while Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday and Sriram Raghavan’s Johnny Gaddaar get three each.

The Bachchan family dominates the Best Actor (Male and Female) Award categories—the Aishwarya and Abhishek-starrer Guru has got 14 nominations and father’s Cheeni Kum has managed three.

The ambitious Saawariya may not have turned out to be a profitable venture but has got nominations in eight categories including the Best Promising Newcomer (Male and Female) for Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor.