While Ang Lee was adjudged the best director, the movie 'Life of Pi' won three other Oscars, for best original score, cinematography and special effects

Taiwanese-American Ang Lee beat master directors like Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) and Michael Haneke (Amour) to take home the best director Oscar for “Life of Pi”, his visually stunning 3D tale of an Indian boy adrift in the ocean for 227 days with 'Richard Parker', a Bengal tiger.

Lee, for his second Academy award, beat Spielberg, Haneke, David O Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) and indie filmmaker Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild) in the directing category.

Before ending his speech with a 'Namaste', Lee said, “I really need to share this with everybody who worked in ’Life of Pi’. I need to thank Yann Martel for writing this marvellous book".

Ang Lee, an Oscar nominee for five times, earlier won the Academy for his 2005 gay cowboys’ drama ‘Brokeback Mountain’. His 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' was nominated for best picture and directing honours, similar to 'Life of Pi'.

Claudio Miranda won the best cinematography trophy for his stunning camera work in the 3D movie. 'Life of Pi' also won in the visual effects (VFX) category with Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R Christopher White taking home the golden statuette. The team paid tribute to the Rhythm & Hues, the company behind the VFX, which has filed for bankruptcy.

Music director Mychael Danna won the Oscar in the Best Original Score category for 'Life of Pi'. Dana had previously worked with Indian origin filmmakers Deepa Mehta for ‘Water’ and Mira Nair for ‘Monsoon Wedding’. Recently, he won a Golden Globe for his score for 'Life Of Pi'.

Lee made several trips, including one to promote the film, to India to research and cast the movie. He chose the then 17-year-old newcomer Suraj Sharma to play the lead from 3,000 hopefuls.

During his trip to Mumbai, Lee had said that he felt a sense of belonging to Pi’s journey, which somehow mirrored his own struggles to direct the technically superb spectacle.

The filmmaker, who is behind genre-defying movies like 'Sense and Sensibility', 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', 'Hulk' and 'Brokeback Mountain', also credited destiny for bringing the movie to him after it changed hands with many directors.

Here is the complete list of winners from Oscar 2013

BEST PICTURE: Argo, Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers

BEST ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

BEST ACTRESS: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: “Skyfall', Skyfall

BEST ANIMATED FILM:  Brave

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Amour, Austria

BEST DIRECTOR: Ang Lee, Life of Pi

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Chris Terrio, Argo

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Jacqueline Durran, Anna Karenina

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Searching for Sugar Man

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT:  Inocente

FILM EDITING: William Goldenberg, Argo

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell, Les Miserables

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Mychael Danna, Life of Pi

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Rick Carter and Jim Erickson, Lincoln

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: Paperman, John Kahrs

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: Curfew, Shawn Christensen

BEST SOUND EDITING: [tie] Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers, Skyfall; Paul NJ Ottosson, Zero Dark Thirty

BEST SOUND MIXING: Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes, Les Misérables

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott, Life of Pi