.htaccess to nginx rewrite rules excluding certain folders

So im trying to move an application from apache to NginX but I've discovered i need to re write the .htaccess file, I've had a good look around but finally I need to ask for some help.

Below is the .htaccess file from apache, im trying to redirect all requests to index.php except for requests to /html, /css, /images, /php.

Thanks for your help in advance!
Bill

RewriteEngine on 
 RewriteRule ^html [L,NC]
 RewriteRule ^css [L,NC]
 RewriteRule ^images [L,NC]
 RewriteRule ^php [L,NC]
 RewriteRule ^.*$ index.php [L,QSA]
 
 RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
 RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !directory/(.*)$
 RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(.*)$
 RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
 

So far I have the below and the requests for the html, css, images and php files are working great.

But when i make a request for www.domain.com/blah/blah/blah/ im getting a 404, what i really want is for the URL to reamin as www.domain.com/blah/blah/blah/ but load the index.php file

location ~ directory/(.*)$ {
 }
 
 location ~ (.*)$ {
 }
 
 location /html {
 rewrite ^/html / break;
 }
 
 location /css {
 rewrite ^/css / break;
 }
 
 location /images {
 rewrite ^/images / break;
 }
 
 location /php {
 rewrite ^/php / break;
 }
 
 location / {
 rewrite ^(.*)$ /index.php break;
 if (!-e $request_filename){
 rewrite ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 redirect;
 }
 }
 

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