A far more intimate Oscars - Indian film awards shows take note

From moving the awards ceremony to Los Angeles’ Union Station to a very small and intimate gathering to a DJ instead of a live orchestra to letting the award winners deliver their acceptance speech beyond the usual 90 seconds – the 93^rd Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, had several unusual moments. These are besides some historic wins of the golden statue.

Held in unprecedented times and amid COVID-19 protocols, the film stars behaved themselves, there was social distancing, a relatively minuscule retinue of photographers, and the guest list was a very short one.

The seating arrangement was made keeping in mind social distancing to be maintained, it was far more intimate and the stage was shorn of any of the usual grandiose. The presenters did not hand over the trophy to the winners, instead the golden statue was kept at the podium where the winner delivered his/her speech. In fact, the presenters announced the nominees and the winners from anywhere but the stage.

And most markedly, there was no host/ master of ceremonies or live orchestra. There were no live performances.

But that didn’t steal away from all the star power present in the auditorium. And the most deserving winners. Most notably was the winner for Best Director – Chloe Zhao for the film ‘Nomadland’. Zhao is the first woman of colour and only the second woman in the history of the Academy Awards to win this Award.

After the brilliant ‘The Parasite’, which won the Oscar for Best film last year, Koreans made their mark once again at the Oscars this year, when Youn Yuh-jung won the award for Best Supporting Actress for the film, ‘Minari’. Her acceptance speech was full of warmth and sharp wit – notably when she schooled Hollywood on the correct pronunciation of her name and also when she thanked her two sons “for making me go out and work”. She ended her speech saying that, “I won this award because mommy worked so hard!”

If Yuh-jung took at a dig at her kids, Daniel Kaluuya, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the film ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’, embarrassed his parents a lot in his acceptance speech.

A stripped down Oscar Awards didn’t dampen the spirits of Hollywood stars, nor their opulent and sartorial fashion choices. But yes, everyone was sensitive to the current times, so everyone steered away from any controversies.

The 93^rd Oscars seemed so far removed from the over-the-top Indian film award shows – which seem so garish and carnival like in comparison. The focus seems to be on the numerous dance performances by film stars in outlandish costumes rather than on the award winners and their work. Time the organisers re-looked at the awards shows and made them more meaningful and celebrate the magic of Cinema, instead of making them feel like back-to-back series of item numbers.