Birdman wins best picture trophy at 87th Oscars

In one of the most unpredictable years, Alejandro G Inarritu's "Birdman" triumphed over seven other nominees to claim the best picture Oscar at the 87th Academy awards besides winning best director, original screenplay and cinematography trophies.

The film won the best picture award by beating off competition from seven contenders. Other films nominated in the best picture category were "Boyhood", "Selma", "The American Sniper", "The Grand Budapest Hotel", "The Imitation Game", "The Theory of Everything" and "Whiplash".

The Broadway-set "Birdman", hailed for its complex narrative about the impact of fame and artistic ego, was favoured by the Academy's over 6000 voters a year after another Mexican helmer Alfonso Cuaron's best director win for "Gravity".

Inarittu shared the Best Picture trophy with film's producers John Lesher, Arnon Milchan and James W Skotchdopole.

Michael Keaton, who lost out to Eddie Redmayne in the best actor category, stars as Riggon Thomson in the movie in what has been hailed by critics as a career-defining role for the 63-year-old actor.

Best known for his role as superhero Birdman, Thomson hopes to reestablish himself as a serious actor by mounting a production on Broadway. But, putting up a play is not as easy as Thomson thought, as his superstar ego and self-doubt clash.

The film had a great supporting cast in Oscar nominated Edward Norton and Emma Stone besides great roles for Naomi Watts and Zach Galifianakis.

Both Stone and Norton were nominated in the best supporting actress and actor categories for their role of an ex-addict and a method theatre star in the movie, but lost out to Patricia Arquette and J K Simmons.