The TLDR: Okay, there is no summary for this one. You’ll just have to come along for the ride, and we promise that it will end in a super-fun destination. 

The great hubris of the Oscars

Back in the 1980s, the Academy claimed that 1 billion people around the world watched the Oscars every year—an outlandish number that paid little regard to the number of TV sets in the world, the number of countries where the show aired, or even minor obstacles like time zone differences. 

In 2020, the same awards ceremony barely drew 24 million eyeballs even in the United States.  But none of this has stopped the Academy from awkwardly calling itself “the world's preeminent movie-related organization.”

Of course, 2020 was also the year when ‘Parasite’ became the first foreign-language film to win best picture—and its director Bong Joon-Ho hilariously shrugged off the awards, saying: “The Oscars are not an international film festival. They’re very local.” Aww, snap!

So are the Oscars truly global?

Sure: if you view the Academy as part of Hollywood. The top 20 box office hits in history are all Hollywood flicks, which draw the greatest global audience—more so than any movie out of India, China etc. So yeah, the movies honoured by the Oscars do indeed “connect the world” as the Academy claims.

Also, yes: if you consider how much money Hollywood makes from its overseas markets. As of 2017, a whopping 60% of its revenue was global.

OTOH, are the Oscars parochial?

Yup: if you consider that both the nominations and final winners are picked by members of the Academy—who are mostly men, mostly white, and mostly American. 

• At the top sits an executive board of governors—with just one Black man and one Chinese-origin woman. 
• The committees for specific fields—direction, acting, editing etc—wield considerable power, and are again mostly lily pale and LA-centred. 
• Finally, of its 9,412 members, 33% are women and 19% belong to ethnic or racial minorities. And that’s a big improvement achieved over just the last two years—thanks to a big push on diversity. 
• Of the 819 new invitees to the Academy in 2020, 49% were from overseas—including, FYI, Hrithik Roshan and Alia Bhat (yay?). 

But for all that, the Academy remains a white American male bastion of privilege—which then results in a gaping diversity problem in the Oscars lineup. Non-diverse voters tend to make insular choices—and that isn’t rocket science.

Also, yes: If you consider how many people around the world actually get the opportunity to watch the Oscar nominees. Last year, studios mostly didn’t bother to release their Oscar-worthy movies either in theatres around the world, or even on a global streaming platform—and in a pandemic year when some of the biggest blockbusters went straight to streaming.

And now with just weeks to go for the ceremony, they are being rolled out in haste—as a cursory nod to their global credentials. Here’s when Indians could see some of this year’s hottest contenders for best films:

• ‘The Father’: No release date available in India.
• ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’: theatrical release only, March 5
• ‘Nomadland’: theatrical release only, April 2 
• ‘Minari’: theatrical release only, April 16

Point to note: FYI, you can watch ‘Nomadland’ on Hulu in Detroit or Dallas, but better be ready to rush out and brave the corona if you want to watch in Delhi.

And all this adds up to….???

A couple of interesting questions—which we (maybe) mulled over a drink or two.

One: Shouldn’t a supposedly global award ceremony honour movies that have actually been watched by a global audience—not mainly by folks in America? 

Two: What would the nominees look like if they were picked by an audience that actually watches stuff from around the world? Rather than a mostly American group of Academy members with their, er, unique viewing biases?

And that audience would be?

Indian, of course! We’re not claiming that we Indians are the world (wait, maybe we are! lol). But we certainly boast a far more cosmopolitan taste for entertainment. 

• Just see Netflix’s lineup for what scored big here in 2020 (apart from Indian content): ‘Money Heist’ (Spanish), ‘Extraction’ (US), ‘The King: Eternal Monarch’, ‘Kingdom Season 2’, ‘It's Okay to Not Be Okay’, and ‘Start-up’ (all South Korea), ‘The Protector’ (Turkey). 
• Even our taste in documentaries is diverse: ‘Bad Boy Billionaires’, ‘The Social Dilemma’ and ‘Money Heist: The Phenomenon’.
• And 80% of Indian Netflix subscribers watched at least one movie a week—the highest in the world! See? We totally heart movies of all kinds!
• In comparison, here is the US list: ‘Cocomelon’, ‘The Queen’s Gambit’, ‘Tiger King’, ‘Ozark’, ‘Outer Banks’, ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’, ‘The Umbrella Academy’, ‘Unsolved Mysteries’, ‘Cobra Kai’. 
• Actually, if you compare the Indian hits with the top ten of any other Western country, we kick ass in terms of sheer global diversity.

Also this: We spend our hard-earned money to make sure we get as many choices as possible. Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar accounted for almost 80% of subscription revenues in the country! One big reason: Foreign content. And Hollywood's share of India box office revenue has been increasing by leaps and bounds. Another survey showed that 9 in 10 Indian moviegoers enjoy both Hollywood and Hindi/regional movies—and eight out of ten are upset they have to wait for months before they can watch the hottest Hollywood flicks (paging Los Angeles!).

Lol! Ok, I see where you’re going with this…

Yes, you guessed it! How about a new kind of global award to honour the best of 2020—chosen by global Indians? We’re not doing the anti-Oscars or the alterna-Oscars but…

<big ass drum roll, please!>

The Bhaskars!

The best global movies, series, actors and directors nominated and chosen by Indians! C’mon, how cool is that?

Wait, why are we doing this? 

Because we are willing to bet that the results will be way more interesting, unexpected and wide-ranging than anything a bunch of Academy members can come up with. Also: it will be sooo much fun!!

Hahaha, ok fine, I’ll play....

Excellent! Here’s how it works.

Categories: Only eight to preserve everyone’s sanity: Best Movie, Best Series, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Screenplay. 

Criteria: Only movies and series that drew a global audience in 2020. So a lot of Bollywood and other regional movies or series won’t qualify—since they’re overwhelmingly watched by Indians. Unlike the Oscars—and in keeping with our own proud tradition of lingual diversity—the Bhaskars are NOT limited to English-language movies or series.

Nomination round: Fill out this Google form to vote for your list of nominees. If you think something truly amazing is missing, write it in under ‘other’. 

Please note: To eliminate duplicate voting—and rigging, chee chee!—you will have to log in using your Gmail account. But we DO NOT collect email addresses!!

Also important: Feel free to share the link widely to as many people you want. More votes the better. 

The winning round: kicks off on April 12 when everyone votes for the winner in each category.

The winners are… We will announce the winners on April 24 at a virtual Bhaskars award ceremony. No, sadly there will be no red carpet or even Zoom acceptance speeches. But we will be couriering a beautiful Bhaskar to each one of the winners to cherish (and maybe take a selfie with?). Nope, we’re not kidding. We are 100% all in on the Bhaskars, baby!

The bottomline: We all need something fresh and fun to jolt us out of these neverending pandemic blues! The Bhaskars are exactly what the doctor ordered! We hope you will enjoy this grand experiment as much as we plan to!