Will this be Leonardo DiCaprio’s year of glory? Or will a resurgent Matthew McConaughey beat him to it and claim an Oscar for his turn in Dallas Buyers Club? Answers to these are not far away with the Academy Awards being handed out on March 2. As always, the nominees and, eventually, the winners will throw up debates and objections, making for conversations that flow much beyond the territory of Hollywood films and involve movie buffs around the world.
Bangalore’s Girish Kasarvalli particularly follows the category for Best Foreign Film and the Lifetime Achievement Award. “Most often, the foreign films are way better than the top film winners. In fact, I hardly follow Hollywood films. One can’t after being struck by the beauty of European and Asian films. In the past, Oscars have feted films like Hurt Locker or The Artist which I found very ordinary. Instead, look at films out of other regions and you will see it is difficult to return from the beauty of what you have witnessed,” he says.
Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar trails the Oscars closely. His travelogue America America minutely detailed the processes of the Academy. Yet, he feels the Oscars, though desired, reputable and with a glorious heritage, are not the ultimate judge of cinematic talent. “So many deserving films don’t even make it to the oscars. I have, in my individual capacity, as a participant and sometimes as a film buff, experienced film events around the world, from Berlin (International Film Festival), Cannes, Sundance, and I can tell you a great wealth of cinema does not reach the Oscars,” he says.
Kasarvalli too pitches for the Venice Film Awards and the Berlin Film Festival. “Cannes was wonderful too, but in the last few years it has lost its charisma,” he says.
Pawan Kumar, whose well received Kannada film Lucia could not make it as India’s contender for Oscar, can take heart there.
India and the Oscars
Our top view of films made within this country comes into sharp focus when the Film Federation Of India decides on the India entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. “All this talk of ‘lobbying’, a very inappropriate word, at the Oscars is wrong. Thousand members of the academy vote. Can all of them be influenced? When Aamir Khan reached there with Lagaan, he had to spend `3 to `4 crore just to show it around. And to say that jury at FFI is biased is unfair too. Most of the filmmakers who submit their films are simple folks who have nothing but cinema in their hearts and little in their pockets,” says Kasarvalli.
Chandrashekhar draws attention to the fact that most regional directors barely have the resources to complete their film, to prepare their project for an international audience then is a call way beyond their means. And hence their work is lost to an international audience. “There is cost of sub-titling for which one has to go to Mumbai or Chennai, couriering the film, ensuring it has excellent audio, possibly in Dolby format - how many producers will go that far? That too after a great push has been made just to release it locally,” he says.
Of those that have the funds to fight, not all make for an exciting choice pool, and not the best decision is always made either. “Think about it, we have had Mother India, Salaam Bombay and Lagaan at the Oscars so far. Do you think Mother India and Lagaan stand out? In 1962, they didn’t think it was worth sending Satyajit Ray’s Charulata. Or later, his Aranyer Din Ratrii. A film like Piravi (Shaji Karun, 1988, Malayalam) was missed out. Had we send these kinds of films, Indian films would have made a mark much earlier,” says Kasarvalli.
It is then, no doubt, sweet irony that Ray, whose two films did make it to the Oscars, was presented an honorary award by the academy in 1992 which he received as he lay in hospital. No wonder, Kasarvalli looks out for the lifetime achievement award.
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Christian Bale (American Hustle)
Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
86th Academy Awards nominees
Best Picture
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Amy Adams (American Hustle)
Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Judi Dench (Philomena)
Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)