The Academy Awards. From Mother India to now Priyanka Chopra presenting an award at the Oscars this year, India has certainly came a long way. Isn’t it?
Today, we will take you on a journey of ‘India in the Oscars’ so far. Excited? Fasten your seat belts!
It all began when for the first time in 1957, ‘Mother India’ directed by Mehboob Khan knocked the doors of Oscars and made it to the top 5 nominations for the category of ‘Best Foreign Film’, but alas India lost to ‘The Nights Of Cabiria’.
Oscar story has been one of heartbreak. It was in 1958 when ‘Madhumati’ starring Dilip Kumar and Vyjanthimala was India’s official entry to the Oscars for the category of Best Foreign Language but unfortunately could not even make it to the top five.Then again at the Oscars in 1959, Ray’s ‘The World of Apu ‘ went unnoticed by the judges of The Academy Awards again disheartening the Indians.
Not even the ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ by K Asif starring Dilip Kumar and Madhubala, in 1960 Oscars and the 1963’s ‘Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam’ at the 1963 Oscars could help score a win. 1976 movie ‘Manthan’ was one of the most promising entries of India in the Oscars but it too was not able to bring the golden man home.
It was a proud moment for every Indian when in 1983, Bhanu Athaiya for the first time ever in the history brought to the nation an Individual Oscar trophy in the category of Best Costume Design for Richard Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi’.
We Indian are known for never losing the hopes. So we reached the Oscars again, though a bit late in 1988. ‘Salaam Bombay’ by Mira Nair made it to the Academy Awards but yet again, India lost to ‘Pelle The Conqueror’. But anyways, we showed it to the world we aren’t going to stop until we beg one for the nation. ‘Lagaan’, a pre-independence period movie starring the Mr. Perfectionist Aamir Khan made its way to the final five in the 2001 Oscars. The fate as they say is pre-written. This time we lost to ‘Bosnian No Man’s Land’.
The Khans led charge of the next generation of Oscar hopefuls. Initially the badshah of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan tried twice with ‘devdas’ in 2002 and ‘Paheli’ in 2005, but eventually failed in both the respective Oscars. Aamir Khan has a bigger list of failures at the Oscars with ‘Rang De Basanti’, ‘Taare Zameen Par’ and 2010’s ‘Peepli Live’.
The hopes went high for India when in 2009 Oscars; ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ made a cut to the finals. This time the hard-work and prayers worked for India and the film directed by Danny Boyle grabbed eight awards at the 81st Oscars that night. Apart from this, there were also two trophies for A.R. Rahman in the categories of Best Original Score and Best Original Song.
Later, ‘Smile Pinki’ a Short Documentary showing a destitute Indian child meets a social worker who makes it possible for her to obtain free surgery to cure her left lip directed by Megan Mylan brought glory to the nation by winning the 81st Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). 2009 was the year for India.
And now in 2016, the Oscars are scheduled in Los Angeles on February 28th and guess what? We have another reason to proudly watch The Academy Awards- Priyanka Chopra. The 33 year old actor-singer is one of the presenters at this year’s Oscars with co-presenters including Hollywood stars like include Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Jared Leto, Julianne Moore, Margot Robbie, Jason Segel, Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon.
PC, who has made a successful international debut with American show ‘Quantico,’ is all set to present an award at the upcoming 88th Academy Awards.
She took it to twitter and wrote,
Looking forward @TheAcademy !! This will be an insaaaane night! https://t.co/zaHmPsK6HC
— PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) February 1, 2016
After conquering American television last year and dazzling at the People’s Choice Awards earlier this year, Ms. Chopra will be one of the presenters at the biggest Hollywood event of the year. This girl is on a roll!
Way to go India!
