Priyanka Chopra, Aamir Khan, AR Rahman, Dev Patel – celebs who made India proud at Academy Awards over the years
On February 26, the greatest and most prestigious awards, considered so by many among the film fraternity, is going to happen. Yes, we are talking about the Academy Awards 2017, the more friendly Osca
On February 26, the greatest and most prestigious awards, considered so by many among the film fraternity, is going to happen.
Yes, we are talking about the Academy Awards 2017, the more friendly
Oscars 2017. We don’t know whether Priyanka Chopra gets another chance
to present an award this year too, but we know for sure that Dev Patel
is nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in
Lion.
Now India has not fared well much at the Oscars, and quite understandably so. First of all, it is an American award ceremony that honours their movies. Secondly, if you are an Indian, the one big chance for you to get an award is to be a part of a Hollywood production or an English movie production, and wait for it to get rave reviews. Or thirdly, your movie should either get nominated in either Best Documentary or Best Foreign Language Film award. And considering that our song and dance routine is not very palatable to many down in the West, we never get much chance to reach the final nominees, save on four occasions. But that doesn’t mean India hasn’t got a fair chance to represent itself at the Oscars. Here are a few occasions that India was made proud at Academy Awards – either by presenting an award, or getting nominated or winning one.
Mother India
This Bimal Roy movie was the first Indian movie ever to get to final list of nominees in the Foreign Language Film category. Though it didn’t end up with a trophy, it was still a milestone for Indian cinema
Persis Khambatta
The late former Miss India winner, known for her role in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, became the first Indian person to present the an Academy Award in the year 1980. Sorry PeeCee!
The Gandhi glory
Richard Attenborough’s biopic Gandhi swept major awards at the Oscars, especially Ben Kingsley as the Best Actor (he is half-Indian descent, by the way). However for us, the big glory was costume designer Bhanu Athaiya becoming the first Indian to win an Oscar for Costume design. Pandit Ravi Shankar was also nominated for Best Original Score.
Ismail Merchant
The late Ismail Merchant of the famous Merchant – Ivory collaboration had four of his movies nominated for the Oscars, including one for Best Short Subject (Live Action).
Salaam Bombay
The second Indian movie to get to the final five of the Best Foreign Language film at Academy Awards in 1989. Directed by Mira Nair, the movie stars Nana Patekar and Anita Kanwar.
Satyajit Ray
There is a reason why Satyajit Ray is hailed as the greatest film-maker India has ever seen and you have to see his movies to recognise his masterclass. Academy Awards acknowledges this, so they honoured him with the Honorary Academy Award, making him the first and the only Indian to get the honour.
Lagaan
Aamir Khan showed us that the Mr Perfection tag is not just a running joke, as he and Ashutosh Gowariker brought world’s attention to India once again in 2001 with Lagaan, that was the third and the final Indian movie to be nominated at the Best Foreign Language movie, later losing to No Man’s Land.
Ashvin Kumar
Documentary and film-maker Ashvin Kumar’s short film Little Terrorist was nominated for Best Short Subject (Live Action) in 2005.
Water
In the same year, John Abraham, Deepa Mehta, Lisa Ray and co. get enjoy some Oscar fervour as Water was nominated for Best Foreign Language Category. Though Water is based in India, it was Canada’s official entry.
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire caused major upsets when it became the surprise major winner in 2009 winning major awards, including Best Film. It also gave Indian actors like Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Freida Pinto, Dev Patel and the child actors an opportunity to get onto the Oscar dias. Just who can forget Anil Kapoor’s big grin at the ceremony?
AR Rahman
Slumdog Millionaire also gave AR Rahman two Academy Awards – Best Original Score and Best Song. He was also later nominated two years later for the same categories for 127 Hours.
Resul Pookutty
Resul Pookutty also won the Best Sound Design award for Slumdog Millionaire which he shared with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke.
Bombay Jayashri
Bombay Jayashri was nominated for Best Original Song for Pi’s Lullaby in Life of Pi.
Priyanka Chopra
Thanks to her involvement in the international series Quantico, Priyanka Chopra got the opportunity by the network in which the series is being aired to present an Academy Award along with Liev Schreiber. The actress made the fashion police turn their heads and notice her with her impeccable fashion sense.
Dev Patel
Dev Patel is the first actor of proper Indian origin (the previous two actors were half Indian descent) to get nominated for an acting category. Now it remains to be seen on February 26, whether he snatches a victory.
Now India has not fared well much at the Oscars, and quite understandably so. First of all, it is an American award ceremony that honours their movies. Secondly, if you are an Indian, the one big chance for you to get an award is to be a part of a Hollywood production or an English movie production, and wait for it to get rave reviews. Or thirdly, your movie should either get nominated in either Best Documentary or Best Foreign Language Film award. And considering that our song and dance routine is not very palatable to many down in the West, we never get much chance to reach the final nominees, save on four occasions. But that doesn’t mean India hasn’t got a fair chance to represent itself at the Oscars. Here are a few occasions that India was made proud at Academy Awards – either by presenting an award, or getting nominated or winning one.
Mother India
This Bimal Roy movie was the first Indian movie ever to get to final list of nominees in the Foreign Language Film category. Though it didn’t end up with a trophy, it was still a milestone for Indian cinema
Persis Khambatta
The late former Miss India winner, known for her role in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, became the first Indian person to present the an Academy Award in the year 1980. Sorry PeeCee!
The Gandhi glory
Richard Attenborough’s biopic Gandhi swept major awards at the Oscars, especially Ben Kingsley as the Best Actor (he is half-Indian descent, by the way). However for us, the big glory was costume designer Bhanu Athaiya becoming the first Indian to win an Oscar for Costume design. Pandit Ravi Shankar was also nominated for Best Original Score.
Ismail Merchant
The late Ismail Merchant of the famous Merchant – Ivory collaboration had four of his movies nominated for the Oscars, including one for Best Short Subject (Live Action).
Salaam Bombay
The second Indian movie to get to the final five of the Best Foreign Language film at Academy Awards in 1989. Directed by Mira Nair, the movie stars Nana Patekar and Anita Kanwar.
Satyajit Ray
There is a reason why Satyajit Ray is hailed as the greatest film-maker India has ever seen and you have to see his movies to recognise his masterclass. Academy Awards acknowledges this, so they honoured him with the Honorary Academy Award, making him the first and the only Indian to get the honour.
Lagaan
Aamir Khan showed us that the Mr Perfection tag is not just a running joke, as he and Ashutosh Gowariker brought world’s attention to India once again in 2001 with Lagaan, that was the third and the final Indian movie to be nominated at the Best Foreign Language movie, later losing to No Man’s Land.
Ashvin Kumar
Documentary and film-maker Ashvin Kumar’s short film Little Terrorist was nominated for Best Short Subject (Live Action) in 2005.
Water
In the same year, John Abraham, Deepa Mehta, Lisa Ray and co. get enjoy some Oscar fervour as Water was nominated for Best Foreign Language Category. Though Water is based in India, it was Canada’s official entry.
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire caused major upsets when it became the surprise major winner in 2009 winning major awards, including Best Film. It also gave Indian actors like Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Freida Pinto, Dev Patel and the child actors an opportunity to get onto the Oscar dias. Just who can forget Anil Kapoor’s big grin at the ceremony?
AR Rahman
Slumdog Millionaire also gave AR Rahman two Academy Awards – Best Original Score and Best Song. He was also later nominated two years later for the same categories for 127 Hours.
Resul Pookutty
Resul Pookutty also won the Best Sound Design award for Slumdog Millionaire which he shared with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke.
Bombay Jayashri
Bombay Jayashri was nominated for Best Original Song for Pi’s Lullaby in Life of Pi.
Priyanka Chopra
Thanks to her involvement in the international series Quantico, Priyanka Chopra got the opportunity by the network in which the series is being aired to present an Academy Award along with Liev Schreiber. The actress made the fashion police turn their heads and notice her with her impeccable fashion sense.
Dev Patel
Dev Patel is the first actor of proper Indian origin (the previous two actors were half Indian descent) to get nominated for an acting category. Now it remains to be seen on February 26, whether he snatches a victory.
No comments:
Post a Comment