A big film award mashup
The TLDR: By glorious serendipity, the results of both the Bhaskars and the Oscars were announced almost on the same day. It gives us an excellent opportunity to compare and contrast what thousands of Indians picked over a bunch of LA-picked folks.
Editor’s note: We decided to do this as our big story as a welcome distraction from the hard news—which is available in the Headlines That Matter section.
About those Oscars…
The Oscars this year were a bit of a damp squib—attracting an all-time low of 9.85 million viewers—which is down 58% compared to last year! There were fierce complaints about the “movie” look-and-feel crafted by director Steven Soderbergh—with some calling out the “non-stop drudgery, zero humor and a format that tried even the most resolute of attention spans… They could make a buck selling the telecast as a smartphone sleep-improvement app.” Ouch!
That the organisers decided to show very few clips of the nominated movies didn’t help. Also not helping: according to a recent survey, 35% hadn’t heard of any of the eight movies nominated for best picture. For example: 'Mank'. It had the most nominations, but only 15% knew of its existence.
Another big miss: Shoving the best song performances into the pre-show segment, especially this glorious performance of ‘Husavik’ from 'Eurovision Song Contest'.
So yeah, you were right to sleep in.
About those Bhaskars…
We didn’t have a grand venue like the Union Station in LA. But on the other hand, our little ‘ceremony’ didn’t last an interminable three hours—or what the New York Times called “the closing-night banquet of a long, exhausting convention.” We kept it to a sweet nine minutes—with our excellent team of young women putting their most charming foot forward.
And the winner is…
Best Feature Film: The Oscar went to ‘Nomadland’—and predictably so—beating out ‘Minari’, ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ and others. More surprising was the decision not to end the show with the best picture category (more on that later).
The Bhaskar winner: ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’—and by a mile!! (‘Soul’ was a distant second—which won the Oscar for best animated flick.) Maybe that’s because 'Nomadland' didn’t show up in theatres until April—and wasn’t available on streaming. Or maybe it’s because 'Chicago 7' is a truly brilliant film worthy of our love.
Best series: The Oscars boringly didn’t have this category. But we did, and the award went to ‘Queen’s Gambit’—which is kinda the ‘Nomadland’ of TV series, being critically acclaimed with a strong female lead. Losing out: ‘Mandalorian’, ‘I May Destroy You’ and ‘Bridgerton’. Well, no one can say that people haven’t heard of or watched the Bhaskar nominees.
Best director: The wonderful Chloé Zhao made history when she won this one for ‘Nomadland’—becoming the first Asian woman and first woman of color to get this prestigious award. She is also only the second woman to win best director. And she made a wonderful speech—dressed in sneakers and pigtails!
The Bhaskar winner: Aaron Sorkin for ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’. Yeah, we Indians picked the straight white guy. What can we say 🤷🏽. But, hey, this is the first ever best director award given to a white man by brown people? That’s historic too, right?
Best actor: So the Oscars ended with this category—in the expectation that Chadwick Boseman will win it for ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’, allowing the show to end on an emotional crescendo of nostalgia and mourning. But sadly, Anthony Hopkins ruined the grand finale by both winning for ‘The Father’—and then not showing up to receive his award. Oops! Hopkins did share a sweet videotaped message once he woke up back home in Wales:
The Bhaskar winner: Thanks to our super-smart decision to club together both series and movies, we ended up with a brilliant outcome: Eugene Levy for ‘Schitt’s Creek’! Who doesn’t love Eugene? Nobody. Yup, Boseman lost out here as well, as did Riz Ahmed for ‘Sound of Metal’. Do we have no loyalty to South Asians, people! No we don’t.
Best actress: Frances McDormand scored another big one for ‘Nomadland’—beating out Davis, Andra Day (‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’), Vanessa Kirby (‘Pieces of a Woman’) and Carey Mulligan (‘Promising Young Woman’).
The Bhaskar winner: Viola Davis (yes!) for ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’. If we do say so ourselves, all of you picked a far more lively final lineup—with Son Ye-jin (‘Crash Landing on You’) and Rosamund Pike (‘I Care a Lot’) giving Davis stiff competition.
Best supporting actor: went to Daniel Kaluuya for ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’—and he made a speech that made his parents… really, really embarrassed.
The Bhaskar winner: Namit Das for ‘A Suitable Boy’. Finally, a South Asian wins an award in a contest decided by South Asians! Thank you, god! Though we have to admit he almost lost out to Sacha Baron Cohen for ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’. This one was a very close call—for Das and diversity!
Best supporting actress: Yuh-jung Youn for ‘Minari’. And she made the best acceptance speech ever!
The Bhaskar winner: Annie Murphy for ‘Schitt’s Creek’. Someone really needs to write a piece on the great Indian love affair with ‘Schitt’s Creek’. But, hey, it’s hard to argue with the awesomeness of Murphy—who beat out Tabu, Gillian Anderson, and Maria Bakalova.
Best screenplay: Best original screenplay went to ‘Promising Young Woman’, while ‘The Father’ won best adapted screenplay.
The Bhaskar winner: ‘The White Tiger’, of course!
Other Oscar remnants: ‘My Octopus Teacher’ won best documentary, while ‘Fight for You’ from 'Judas and the Black Messiah' won best song. Vulture has the full list.
The other ‘true’ winners
Glenn Close: may have lost out on best supporting actress for ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ but she won everyone’s hearts with ‘Da Butt’ dance.
The wolf howl: Frances McDormand did this when ‘Nomadland’ won best picture—as a tribute to Michael Wolf Snyder, the film’s production sound mixer, who died in March.
The on-trend swag bag: which included a Chadwick Boseman NFT.
Riz Ahmed: for tenderly fixing his wife’s hair on the red carpet.
LaKeith Stanfield: who lost out on best supporting actor but scored big with this stunning Saint Laurent jumpsuit!
Also: Alan Kim from ‘Minari’—who had to take his dog for a walk before the ceremony. Now, that’s adorable!
The biggest loser…
This journalist who asked Daniel Kaluuya what it was like being directed by Regina King in ‘One Night in Miami’. This after Kaluuya won best supporting actor for ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’. What the two movies have in common: Black actors. Watch Kaluuya’s grace in the face of an infuriating insult.
Reading list
New York Times reviews a maskless but muffled Oscars. New Yorker celebrates the return of fashion, while The Cut has a list of the best, worst, and most glamorous red carpet looks. Vogue calls out the fatphobia on the red carpet. Elle explains why no one was wearing a mask. New York Times and The Cut have the best and worst moments from this year’s ceremony; and Guardian has the most awkward ones through the years. For movie nerds: Hollywood Reporter breaks down the math behind the biggest Oscar shockers. The Guardian reports on the unhappy reception Zhao’s triumph received in China. The Atlantic pays tribute to Youn Yuh-jung’s fab acceptance speech.