The Oscars this time attracted lots of attention from India. The reason was the four movies nominated in different categories at the Oscars that shared a deep connect with our countryman; Lee’s “Life of Pi”, Steven Spielberg directed historical drama “Lincoln”, Kateryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty” and David O Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook”. These four could be assumed as a gift from Indian side to the prestigious Oscar Award Ceremony this time around.
Life of Pi, nominated for 11 Oscar Awards won the award for the best original score and has succeeded in diverting lots of attention towards India, the world over. The movie is based on the Canadian author Yann Martel’s Man Booker Prize winning novel of the same name. The story is about the expedition of an Indian boy who survives a storm and is left on a life –boat with a tiger. The refreshing screenplay features a diverse set of Indian talent including lead actor Suraj Sharma, prominent Bollywood actor Irfan Khan, Tabu and the famous Indian classical singer Jayshree Ramnath famously known as Bombay Jayshree who was also nominated in the category of the best original score for the movie. She penned down lyrics in Tamil for the famous song “Pi’s Lullaby”. Major part of the movie was picturized in south India.
Lincoln, a movie nominated in 12 categories is produced by Dream Works; a joint venture with Anil Ambani led Reliance ADAG.
Zero Dark Thirty was shot for a major portion of the film in Chandigarh. The famous Manimajra market was given a Pakistani ambience for the shooting with boards on the shops recreated in the Urdu language for the movie.
Silver Linings Playbook another major Oscar contender features Bollywood’s veteran actor Anupam Kher in an important role.
The only thing that pains is to see our valuable resources under-utilized in our own country and the lackluster attitude of our movie makers. Barfi was our official entry to the Foreign Language Film category to the Academy Awards, the last year. The movie could not even make to the second round of the screening among the other films from different corners of the world in race. This is not the first time India experiences embarrassment at the international arena courtesy it’s unoriginal and pro-plagiarism film makers.
Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi won us first Oscar in 1982 while our legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray was given an honory Oscar.Shekhar Kapur’s Hollywood based film released in 1998 named Elizabeth also earned an Oscar and name for India on the global stage. The latest encounter of India with Oscar trophy was in 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire directed by a British filmmaker Danny Boyle featured. The movie’s star cast was completely Indian.
The main question is that have we really lost the plot in the “100 crore” box office collection trend or are we in actuality below par when it comes to produce a creative work?
A mechanical engineering graduate with a post graduation in marketing and sales, Ashish has combined professional experience of more than 4 years.
Ashish is a great fan of Martin Scorsese. He loves to write poetry in his spare time.
He lives in Shimla.
