He brought tears to the eyes of many cinegoers and filmmakers with his moving portrayal of a dyslexic child in 'Taare Zameen Par' who has to undergo the turmoil of loss of his carefree childhood under constant clamour of parents and teachers for good academic grades.

Darsheel Safary, the eight-year old who played the role of the dyslexic child in 'Taare Zameen Par', has been nominated in the Best Actor category at the 53rd Filmfare awards, a first in the history of Indian cinema.

Darsheel will be vying for the Best Actor's trophy at the Filmfare awards, considered the Indian counterpart of the Oscars, along with superstars like Shahrukh Khan (nominated for ‘Chak De India' and ‘Om Shanti Om'), Akshay Kumar (‘Namastay London') and teenage heartthrobs like Abhishek Bachchan (‘Guru') and Shahid Kapoor (‘Jab We met').

The Filmfare nomination for the Best Actor for the eight-year-old comes close on heels of his bagging the jury award for the Best Actor at the recently held Star Screen awards where he also won the Best Child Actor award.

Ever since the film's worldwide release on December 21, those in film circles have hailed Darsheel as the ‘Best Performer' of the year and had been suggesting that he deserved to be nominated in the Best Actor category and not just in the Best Child Actor category in the various film awards.

Film analysts and experts have been full of praises for the acting prowess of Darsheel, whose performance in the film has endeared him to children and adults alike across the country.

It was perhaps keeping in view the overwhelming impact that Darsheel's 'natural' portrayal in the film has created among cinegoers across the country that the jury of the recently-concluded Screen awards, led by actor-turned MP Shatrughan Sinha, selected him for the Special jury award for Best Actor.

Filmmaker Ravi Chopra, a member of the awards jury, too was effusive in his praise for the child actor.

''According to me, Darsheel is the Best Actor of the year. We gave him the jury award for Best Actor because we felt he was the best performer of the year. infact, the work this child has done at such a small age is really commendable,'' Chopra said.

The success of 'Taare Zameen Par' was in large part attributable to Darsheel's moving performance in the film, Chopra added.

''I feel that in 'Taare Zameen Par', Darsheel's has been the most fantastic peformance. So much so that I would attribute the success of the film in large part to Darsheel's work in the film which tugged at many a heart strings among cinegoers,'' the filmmaker said.

Trade analysts also feel that the performance given by Darsheel is one of the the best by a child actor in the recent past.

''Darsheel Safary has delivered an award winning performance in 'Taare Zameen Par'.

As the eight-year-old Ishaan Awasthi, he is extremely effective and natural in his portrayal of the mental trauma being undergone by the child so much so that he has the viewer's heart bleed for the small child, '' film analyst Komal Nahata said.

Darsheel's portrayal in the is sure to win him every single award for the child actor in the country, including the prestigious National Award, Nahata said, adding that full justice to the child's genius would be done only of he was nominated in the Best Actor category and not in the Best child Actor category.

''Darsheel Safary is capable of fighting it out with Shahrukh, Aamir and Akshay Kumar. He could just end up giving them a really tough fight. One never knows, he could also walk away with the award,'' Nahata said.

'Taare Zameen Par' has also won the Best film nomination, the Best actor nomination for Aamir Khan, the Best Supporting actor (Male) for Aami Khan, the Best Supporting actress nomination for actor Tisca Chopra and Best Lyrics nomination for Prasoon Jodhi for his lyrics for the song ‘Maa..' in the film.