The Oscars announced its nominations recently and saying that people aren’t happy with it would be an understatement! Let's deep dive into one of the most celebrated nights of the year!
The Oscars are always known as the highest place of honor for everyone who works in the film fraternity. But since the past few years, the nominations have made a plethora of people question their process of giving the best films their due credit. The recent Emilia Perez vs Wicked debacle has sparked so many conversations online which makes people doubt the credibility of it all.
Everyone from the cast to the makers have done a decent job of making Emilia Perez, a musical about a Mexican lawyer who is offered an unusual job to help a notorious cartel boss retire and transition into living as a woman, fulfilling a long-held desire. And this article isn't questioning the credibility of this movie. Does it deserve to win awards? Yes! Does it deserve to get nominated at the Oscars? Hell yes! But if we compare it to the giant phenomenon that Wicked was last year, was the film able to surpass the glory of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo?
Wicked was not just some peppy musical with grand, colorful sets and costumes. It was so much more! If you’ve watched the film, you can see the effort Jon M. Chu and his entire crew have put into the film. In today's day and age, who plants nine million tulips in real life for a musical? Who builds an entire train when CGI exists for all of this? The makers have been so invested in wanting to keep things authentic in Wicked and every scene stands as proof.
Let’s keep internet conversations aside for a bit and compare the two films for what they are - musicals! In the process of wanting to keep things real, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo actually sang live on set every single day for every single scene and the output of that has been phenomenal on-screen! So much so that Wicked continued to become a pop culture phenomenon post the film’s release because of the music. Which further cements the rants and the rage of the internet for the Oscars not giving Wicked its due credit.
While Wicked got 10 nominations including Best Picture and Best Actress, it was nowhere to be seen in any of the music categories which is what it is known for in the first place. Whereas, Emilia Perez got 13 nominations including two nominations for Best Original Song. So the on-going debate about both the films is rather justified, and Emilia Perez's recent win at the Golden Globes for Best Musical, did not help its case at all!
From podcasts to content creators, here’s the Internet’s take on the nominations this year!
Our issue with the Oscars doesn't just end here. While we’re well aware that sending the right kind of films to the Oscars is something India hasn't mastered yet, we also wonder if the Oscars is ready for India at all. In the past, Guneet Monga’s documentary ‘Period: The End of a Sentence’, S.S. Rajamouli’s song ‘Naatu Naatu’ from his blockbuster film ‘RRR’ and Slumdog Millionaire which was set in India have all won Oscars before. But if you look deeper, you’d realise that the Academy, in all true sense, isn’t ready for mainstream Indian cinema that is heavily consumed in our country. We’re not just talking about Bollywood here, even regional films like ‘Manjummel Boys’, and ‘Aavesham’ were popularly watched and loved last year. And let's not forget how Lagaan did not win any accolades either even after being rather critically acclaimed!
Let’s take a recent film as an example. Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani had a good amount of quintessential Dharma music and larger than life dance sequences but it also had a good balance of being able to helm the film with a story that has a moral. Oftentimes, the perspective of the west about Bollywood is ‘people who sing and dance around trees.'
It makes us wonder if anything that doesn’t align with the Academy’s pre conceived notion about India has no place at the Oscars! As the Indian film industry, singing and dancing are a huge part of our culture and hence our movies are also heavily reliant on that. These movies are larger than life and paint a beautiful world of its own. But Indian cinema has a lot more to it than just that. Probably the Academy isn't ready to see Indian film that aren't made in the yellow filter and justify stereotypes!
Even after all the ignorance towards our movies, the Academy proceeds to upload songs from K3G, which is one of the most cult classic films we’ve ever had, on its Instagram page! So while there's recognition online, it's disheartening to not see Indian filmmakers and actors sitting amongst the best of the best and get their seat on the table!
What do you think? Does the Academy indeed have a bias or is it simply not able to live up to its own legacy? We’ll leave that for you to decide.
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