New Delhi: The best moments from the 84th Academy Awards, Hollywood's biggest night of love for a shared movie-going experience, were ones which were sentimental, nostalgic and drew the audience in with a sense of easy familiarity. For most Indians who made the effort to wake up at 6 AM to catch the live telecast, the comparisons with our own awards functions were inevitable, and almost bile-inducing.
When the handsome Christopher Plummer, 82, came to collect his long overdue Oscar for supporting actor in the romantic comedy 'Beginners', his acceptance speech underlined the dignity and classy charm of an era that celebrated the man behind the actor. "You're only two years older than me, darling. Where have you been all my life?" Plummer said.
Nine-time show host Billy Crystal lacked the sharp edge that the irreverent Ricky Gervais brought to the Golden Globes with his saucy humour that often drew blood, but his familiar routine was the anchor for a more conservative audience on a night that rarely celebrated comedies. Now refresh your memory and relive some of the most memorable moments from the Filmfare Awards held recently.
Drag acts, toilet humour
Veteran actor Shah Rukh Khan was in a drag act with rising star Ranbir Kapoor whose blouse kept falling off his shoulder, Vidya Balan repeating her tired gags from her runaway hit 'The Dirty Picture' (we get it Ms Balan, you are the new Bollywood hero), actress Priyanka Chopra's medley dance number was themed on her search for a life partner and a fake Tamil actor Dhanush entered the stage with a foil wrapped bow and arrow (dhanush, geddit?) singing Kolaveri Di and contributing to the worst cliches regarding actors from one of the four prominent southern film industries.
But wait, I probably forgot to mention the several stone-faced sponsors who arrogantly paraded up and down the stage as if they owned it (they probably did) and haltingly delivered their two-liners without cracking a smile. The humour was substandard, the jokes downloaded from the internet and their timing was terrible. Hosts Kapoor and Khan wore what resembled Spongebob costumes with bow ties.
But the veterans stepped in at poignant moments to salvage some of the evening's disastrous moments. Singer Usha Uthup in her own inimitable style said she has been waiting for the recognition for the past 42 years. Singer Bappi Lahiri, known as much for his flamboyance as for the heavy gold jewellery he lugs around his neck, entered in style singing his hit number 'Ooh La La'.
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Touted as the Indian Oscars and set up in the same year as that of the prestigious National Awards (1954), the Filmfare Awards honour popular films adjudged by both by a panel of experts and as well as public voting. Most Indian awards are hosted by prominent media houses in our country. With the exception of the International Indian Film Academy Awards, the Zee Cine Awards, the Screen Awards and the Stardust Awards have their own criteria for judging a film. Unlike the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group of entertainment industry professionals who hand out the Oscars every year, these houses have their own business interests to promote, the brands to endorse and stars to highlight. In the end the focus often gets shifted from cinema.
Following the outpouring of anguish on Twitter on Monday over why our awards functions fall behind its American and British counterparts, actor Abhishek Bachchan commented: "Interesting to see/read a lot of the media comparing the Oscars to our Indian awards. Most seem to think that we need to improve..... ..raise our standards.... Wait a minute... Aren't most of OUR awards run and held by media houses! Take the initiative, we shall follow!!"
Proper categorisation
He may have a point. But there are many more aspects to just carrying off a superb function. Take for example the view of actor Mini Mathur who made a valid point when she said that the categorisation of the awards is as important as any of its aspects. "Original screenplay and adapted screenplay gets judged in separate categories (in the Oscars)," she said. Filmfare for example, the 57th annual Filmfare Awards gave away the Best Screenplay to Akshat Verma for Delhi Belly.
Dedicated scriptwriters and awards producers
If you thought the Academy Awards were a closed-door institution of 6000 senile jury members dribbling food down the front of their tunics, you were wrong. The average age of the jury is said to be 57 which is considerably hip considering that most of them are life members and that it is extremely difficult to get into the hallowed club of the Oscar jury.
But the combined work experience of the men and women who put together the Academy Awards night show is simply staggering. Meet Brian Grazer and Don Mischer, the producers of the 84th Academy Awards telecast. Grazer earned four nominations and won a Best Picture Oscar in 2001 for 'A Beautiful Mind.' Mischer's credits include the previous year's Oscars show, several Super Bowl half-time shows and the opening ceremonies of both Winter and Summer Olympic Games. He is also the winner of 15 Emmy Awards and 10 Directors Guild of America Awards among others. The art department who handled the redesigning of the Kodak theatre was led by two-time Academy Award-winning production designer John Myhre.
Beloved emcees that audiences are familiar with
Keeping it funny and familiar. Crystal may have been panned for the slightly boring presentation on Monday, but his mix of one-liners, song and comic set pieces have enshrined him as one of the most beloved of Oscar emcees. This is his ninth time back as a host and his audience comprised men and women he knew intimately over his long career. The A-listers who gave away the awards were actors whom the industry loved well, unlike Indian ceremonies where embarrassingly, the executives from the sponsoring companies were called on stage, often accompanied by B-list starlets as arm candies to give away the awards.
Forced laughs
In a scene from 'The Descendants,' and one of the clips that drew the biggest laughs, George Clooney bends over Crystal, lying in a hospital bed, and kisses him, telling him softly, "Wake up. We're all ready for you to come home where you belong." As Crystal's eyes flutter open, Clooney implores, "You have to do it, Billy. The academy's got you the youngest, hippest writers." Crystal often failed to keep the pace but never once overdid his script to force grimacing laughter bordering on the maniacal from an audience that looked as if it would rather be anywhere but there, as often happens in the Indian awards night as the cameras pan the popular faces.
However, it would be unfair to trash the effort of the many people behind the Indian film awards shows; the craftsmen, the writers, the set designers, the choreographers and the errands boys who cater to star tantrums and the last minute hiccups. New stars are born on awards night and the song and dance performances, Bollywood's true forte, compare with any of the world's best.
But a word of advice to Ranbir Kapoor; next time, try not to receive your award in a saree, from your sisters and sporting day-old stubble. It is neither cute nor funny and is positively alarming.
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