NYC musician behind score of 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' reflects on Oscar nomination

WILLIAMSBURG, Brooklyn -- He's not your typical Oscar nominee, but as one of the musicians behind the score of "Everything Everywhere All at Once," Rafiq Bhatia has a good chance to win on Sunday night.

The 35-year-old guitarist is of Indian descent with parents who grew up in East Africa. His experimental rock band, Son Lux, was recruited to provide the music for the Oscar favorite.

Now their score is up for an Oscar as one of the year's best.

At the time they were recruited, the band was still in search of wide recognition after working hard for years and playing small clubs. Then one day everything changed when Hollywood came calling in the form of two brothers named Daniel.

"Our first assignment was, 'OK, there's this universe where everyone's got hot dogs instead of fingers, and they're watching a musical, and it's in the style of 'King and I.' Can you guys make the song that they're singing? Because we need to shoot that scene,'" Bhatia said.

"Never in a million years was I expecting that when they read out the nominees for original score, that we would be up there, and I was stunned," Bhatia said.

Just a few weeks later, he joined the likes of Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg at the Oscar Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills.

"When I was younger, doing what I do today was not something that I ever thought would be a viable career path, and a big part of that was that there weren't that many people who looked like me up there doing those things," Bhatia said.

Providing the music for this particular movie has a special resonance.

"Because in a lot of ways, I see my upbringing in this film, I see my relationship with my parents in this film," Bhatia said.

But the child of immigrants also says "Everything Everywhere All at Once" appeals to everybody.

"This movie has open arms for a lot of different types of people, and that's one of the things I think is so beautiful about it," he said.

The other founding members of Son Lux include Ian Chang and Ryan Lott.