Ronjita Kulkarni in Mumbai

Just 12 hours for the 74th Annual Academy Awards which will be held at the Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles.

Aamir Khan's debut production Lagaan, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, is one of five nominations in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The actor, his director and their wives are waiting the fate of their film in LA.

Back home, Aamir's Eleven (his team in the film) is in high spirits. Busy with live shows and parties, each is confident that they will win the coveted award.

March 23 night saw them at a hectic partying binge at a South Mumbai nightclub Mikanos (in Worli), after an interview with local television channel Zee. The party was a signature campaign sponsored by Today's Ballpoint pens. Signatures (of the guests at the nightclub) were then faxed to Aamir to wish him luck at the Oscars.

Mikanos guests are enthusiastic. They pitch in with very vocal renditions of each song from Lagaan under the strobe lights. Photographers's flashbulbs went into overdrive.

The team huddle together at a corner of the nightclub. Raj Zutshi (Ismail, the potter of Lagaan) and Rajesh Vivek (Guran, the fortune-teller) are not present. Raghuvir Yadav, the only non-drinker of the group, looks a tad out of place. He is the first to leave.

Wearing his trademark denims, Sri Vallabh Vyas' (Ishwarkaka, who plays Gauri's [Gracy Singh] father in Lagaan) cell phone seems a natural extension of him. Yashpal Sharma (Lakha, the woodcutter) breaks into Urdu verse.

Dayashankar Pandey (Goli, the farmer with the largest plot of land) is happy circulating and chatting with people around. Then, Amin Hajee (Bagha, the mute temple boy) takes over. He leads the team to the centre of the dance floor and they break into a dance to the music of Ghanana ghanana and Mitwa, songs from the film.

Sri Vallabh Vyas confesses, "I'm very tired now," referring to the promotions they have done so far. Pradeep Rawat (Deva) chimes in saying there is no stopping them till they win the Oscar.

Akhilendra Mishra (Arjan, the blacksmith) claims, "The last time I had been to a nightclub was in 1983. I thank Aamir for showing me this day."