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It’s that time of year again, folks and Bollywood — on cue — is in an advanced state of excitement. Unfailingly, the poor bozos for nearly 50 years, ever since the entry in 1956 of Mother India, have been sending their entry to the Oscars — and unfailingly they have been greeted with the same chilling repudiation. Barring few exceptions, the country that prides itself in producing the largest number of movies, has cut a pathetic figure in the Oscar sweepstakes. Do the big boys in Bollywood really take this Bollywood goes global phenomenon so seriously as to genuinely believe that our films — that enthrall, enchant and entertain the hard-up nostalgia-driven NRI community — have a ghost of a chance in the foreign film category where 80 other solid competitors are breathing down our neck? For long now, we have been laughed out of the competition in the first round itself. So why do we bother?
Simple dude. It’s not another corny dumb, over hyped (yawn) B-town road show, playing in different parts of the globe before a hysterically star struck NRI audience. It is the mother of all glitz and gloss event on the planet with a captive audience of over 750 million TV viewers. While tears and smile work overtime and great expectations soar and plummet (will Taare Zameen Par make it?), the real value comes from the impact of the awards on the box office. Even a nomination generates prestige and big bucks with the trade, press and the audience. Stars have been known to double, even triple their fees.
However, given our dismal track record do we stand a chance?
Relax. Don’t get touchy, patriotic or emotional, guys, because this is not value judgment at work, but different mindsets and sensibilities at play. The kind of cinema we produce is targeted at Indian audiences and thus the style and substance, form and content (song, dance, melodrama, comedy, tragedy, costumes, locales, loud, exaggerated emotional pitch) is choreographed for tugging at its Indian audience. The problem is such films (Devdas, Eklavya, Paheli) despite their color and oriental charm are too exotic for Oscar jurors. In an environment where local roots with global vision is the winning mantra, our culture and audience-specific films carry little appeal. Of course, there have been exceptions. Mother India (1956), Salaam Bombay (1988) and Lagaan (2001) were nominated for the Oscars, but three nominations in nearly 50 years doesn’t sound so hot, na?
Film critic Saibal Chatterjee says he is not surprised at India’s poor performance at the Oscars: “It has largely to do with the kind of people who decide to select movies that should go to the Oscars as India’s official entry … are they clued into either world cinema or the kind of cinematic fare that scores big in the foreign film category? This year’s chairman of the jury was Sunil Darshan. Imagine, a hard-core Bollywood type. We got lucky that the other jury members were evolved and cinema-literate to announce Taare Zameen Par.”
Chatterjee also blames Bollywood’s complacence and confidence on striking it big with the NRI community: “The overseas market has suddenly, in the last decade or so, ballooned and ploughs back monster bucks to the industry. Even the Big B has often stated that we don’t need the Oscars to prove our credentials. The world has already voted for Bollywood! However, the industry (deep within), realizes the worth and prestige of an Oscar and how it can change the profile of an industry in the eyes of the world.” The trick is to follow Iran’s or China’s model, Chatterjee says, which is to produce something totally culture-specific, but with a universal vision, something that resonates at a human level. “Will TZP be able to do it? All I can say, it seems to have a fighting chance.”
Lyricist, Javed Akhtar disagrees: “We don’t make the cut, because our films lack the quality that the winning entries in the foreign films category demands.” He admits that sometimes the most appropriate films have not been submitted for the Oscars, but overall “it’s a clear and simple case of our films not being good enough to meet global standards.”
Film-maker Aparna Sen, of 36 Chowringhee Lane and Mr and Mrs Iyer fame, is both amused and bewildered at the annual tamasha surrounding the Oscar event. “What’s the big deal? Why do we make such a mega song and dance about this event? Because it’s Hollywood-specific? Remember, excellence is not always the criteria for the winning entries. There are many other considerations at play.” Sen should know. She’s served on several international film festival juries and discovered that you can be out-voted for reasons that are not necessarily cinematic-excellence driven. “The other things that should be kept in mind are the credentials and quality of the selection committee. The group should be completely fair, free and fearless. Why do they lean so heavily towards Bollywood? How many films from brilliant regional film-makers like Girish Kasaravalli, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shaji Karun, Buddhadev Dasgupta, even the great Satyajit Ray, have ever been selected from their oeuvre? Isn’t it both shocking and a shame? At the end of the day, great films are not those that are in Oscars, but those that remain in your heart and mind years after the film was made and the film-maker is no more. Make a check-list in your mind of your most cherished films and then quickly check out if any of them has got an Oscar!”
Veteran film-maker Shyam Benegal, a distinguished and articulate filmmaker who knows the Festival circuit backwards, has a different take. “It really has to do with your knowledge of the dynamics and mechanism required for the Oscar game … of how smart and savvy your networking is out there … of whether you have identified the key people to tap (in terms of jury members) and hired the right P.R. firm to publicize your film in the appropriate manner. I think the only people, to my mind, who’ve been able to play this game really well are Aamir Khan and Ashutosh Gowarikar. Their Lagaan foray should be viewed as a case study. So it’s no use lamenting or getting heated up about why we haven’t made the cut there. Most guys here don’t have a clue about all this.”
Aamir does. As producer and director of TZP, India’s official entry this year, and an earlier foray at the Oscars with Lagaan, he had the wind behind his back. But TZP was not among the nine foreign films selected for voting for the best foreign film Oscar. Dejavu? Another round of controversies, finger pointing and chest beating has already begun. When will we ever grow up?
The Oscar Jinx!
Sure , you ‘re in heaven when you win. But after floating on cloud nine, what happens if — and when — you fall. Doesn’t happen, you say? Ok guys, you asked for it. Welcome to a starry roster of glitterati who became the dreaded victims of the “Oscar Jinx.”
Legend has it that when Milos Foreman scooped up this Oscar for the best director for One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest, he warned his stars Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher, “You know; now we’re all going to fall.”
He was dead on cue and their next project fell with a thud. Then there was Luis Rainer, who won the best actress award twice in 1936 and 1937. All her subsequent assignments bombed. Years later she bemoaned: “Those two awards were no good for me. I did one bad film and was treated like I have never done anything good in my life.” Poor dear.
The careers of such stalwarts as Olivia De Havilland, Marlon Brando, Rod Stegier and Gene Hackman also tumbled after the Oscars smiled on them, although they all recovered. That wasn’t so for Miyoshi Umeki, Harold Russel, Jo Van Fleet or Alice Bhady. Umeki picked up the best supporting actress award as Red Button’s wife in the Brando classic Sayonara, but faded thereafter as did Russel after winning the best supporting actress Oscar for the 1946 hit The Best Year of our Lives. The same fate awaited Fleet and Brady.
Brodenick Crawfrod won the best actor award in 1949 with his sterling performance in All the Kings Men. But his reign was short lived.
Perhaps the most tragic case is that of Gig Young, winner of best supporting actor in 1969 for his stupendous performance in They Shoot Horses Don’t They? He desperately hoped that his award would provide him a much-desired breakthrough. It didn’t. Two supporting roles later, he killed himself in desparation.
That’s the Oscar. The one with the Midas touch. Or the kiss of death. |
OSCAR TRIVIA
Are you ready for the magic? Yes, yes — but are you ready to be quizzed on Oscar facts? It’s origin? It’s early times? It’s highs and lows. It’s rages and outrages. It’s flash and glitter. It’s controversies and trivia…
A. In the beginning
1 When were the first Oscar awards presented and where?
2 What was the statuettes’ measurements and weight at birth and when was it officially christened?
B. Winners and Losers
1 Which film won the most Oscars ever?
2 Who has won the most Oscars in his lifetime?
3 What do Greta Garbo, Cary Grant, Montgomery Clift, Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole have in common?
C. Controversies Galore!
1 Which actor declined two nominations, dubbing the presentation nothing more than “a meat package”?
2 For which film did Marlon Brando refuse the Oscar in 1970 and why?
3 Which actor refused his nomination in 1974, but accepted another best actor award later with some gentle wisecracks?
D. Moving moments!
1 Which actress thanked her deaf parents (after winning) in sigh language?
2 Which great actress, while accepting her award, proceeded to praise her prime competitor in the race as being more deserving?
3 By whom were these words uttered : “Words seem oh so futile, so feeble. This is a very emotional moment for me. You are wonderful…sweet people.”
Answers :
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A1 May 16, 1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
A2 Twelve inches, weighing six-three quarter pounds. Officially christened in 1921.
B1 Ben Hur in 1959, with 11 academy awards.
B2 Walt Disney with a grand total of 30 awards.
B3 Oscar’s right royal cold shoulder. None of them ever won the trophy.
C1 George C. Scott.
C2 The Godfather. To protest against Hollywood’s unsympathetic portrayals of American Indians.
C3 Dustin Hoffman. Nominated for his performance in Lenny, he accepted the award for Kramer v Kramer, but ridiculed the Oscar statue with the irreverent broadside, “He has no genitalia and he’s holding a sword?”
D1 Louis Fletcher.
D2 Ingrid Bergman for Murder on the Orient Express heaped praise on Valentina Cortese for Day for Night.
D3 Charlie Chaplin in 1971, when presented with a special Oscar | | |
