BEHINDWOODS COLUMN

The Host

The 86th academy awards or Oscar would be hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. Keeping in line with the Golden Globes where Tina Fey and Amy Poelher rocked the scene, the Oscars are keen to follow with Ellen DeGeneres as their host. Interestingly she is the only other women (other than Whoopi Goldberg) to run solo as an emcee.

India @ Oscars

Satyajit Ray, AR Rahman and Resul Pookutty come to mind when we talk of Indians winning the Oscar but the first Indian to win the academy in 1983 was a woman - Bhanu Athaiya who designed the costumes for the award winning film - Gandhi.

Although the jury of the National film awards recommend that the best film be the official entry to the academy, this has not been the case. Of all the forty plus films sent only three (Mother India, Salaam Bombay and Lagaan) were official nominees. Our very own Kamal Hassan is the most represented filmmaker with seven films submitted for nominations. 2013 is the first time a Gujarati film - The good Road was chosen for submission. (This movie did not eventually make the cut).

Interestingly, in 2013 Pi's Lullaby (Life of Pi) was nominated for the Best original song. This was written by Bombay Jayashree in Tamil making it the first Tamil song to be nominated in that category. Although the award eluded her "Jayashri proved a fitting cultural ambassador for India at the award ceremony. The presence of a Carnatic vocalist in the midst of glitz and glamour that surrounded the Oscar extravaganza was indeed a tribute to Jayashri's laissez-faire approach to assimilation and dissemination of music. It was a moment of pride for India." - The Hindu reported.

Oscar 2014

Incidentally, this might be the only Oscar where a song nominated for Original score (Alone yet not alone) was later removed from the list citing improper campaigning.

This year the academy has also decided to honor fictional heroes from Iron Man, Superman, Spider man to Batman along with Star wars Luke Skywalker and Neo from Matrix for “saving the world”.

Stay tuned to catch the movie industry’s most prestigious award on Sunday March 2, 2014.