TORONTO: There were tears and champagne when Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta learned she had earned an Oscar nomination for her film "Water" on Tuesday.

The Toronto-based director and screenwriter said she was nervous as she watched the early morning announcement on television with daughter Devyani Saltzman, publicist Bonne Smith, producer David Hamilton and distributor Hussain Amarshi at her side.

"My daughter was jumping up and down and David started crying and Hussain opened a bottle of champagne and we were just jumping, we were like kids," she told The Canadian Press.

"Water" is set in India in 1938, against pacifist Mohandas K. Gandhi's rise to power, and it tells the story of the appalling treatment and isolation of Hindu widows, including an 8-year-old girl.

It came after a difficult shoot in Sri Lanka and India, which took several years due to opposition from Hindu fundamentalists.

Mehta said she was especially thrilled that "Water" is the first non-French film from Canada to be up for a best foreign language film. Although it contains some English, it was allowed for consideration because of recent changes to Academy rules which allow films to contain up to 30 percent English. Previously, no English was allowed.

"For me, what is really important is that it really shows that Canada is a multilingual country," she said.

Mehta said she was looking forward to walking the red carpet when the gold statuettes are handed out Feb. 25. She is already considering a special outfit — a very old sari that was part of her mother's trousseau.

"It's plain gold and it's very elegant," she said. "I think it's right to wear mom's sari."