Why is an Oscar for ‘RRR’ and ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ ‘historic’ occasion for Indian cinema?

Many Indian artists have made a mark internationally but no Indian film had won Oscar; ‘Mother India’, ‘Salaam Bombay!’ and ‘Lagaan’ only Indian films to be nominated for Academy Awards

MM Keeravaani and Chandrabose pose with the Oscar for Best Original Song for ‘Naatu Naatu’ from ‘RRR’ in the Oscars photo room at the 95th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, on Monday. Reuters

Tribune Web Desk

Vibha Sharma

Chandigarh, March 13

Monday spelled magic for Indian cinema with two Indian films landing the prestigious Oscar. The foot-tapping ‘Naatu Naatu’ from international blockbuster ‘RRR’ won the Academy Award in the category of ‘Best Original Song’ and documentary ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ in the category ‘Best Documentary (Short) Subject’.

SS Rajamouli’s period drama ‘RRR’ also happens to be among thehighest money spinners in India and abroad for the year 2022.Meanwhile,Guneet Monga and Kartiki Gonsalves’ Netflix project ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ is an emotional story about a couple’s bond with an orphaned elephant.

Notably, before ‘RRR’ and ‘The Elephant Whisperers’, no Indian film ever won an Oscar, though many Indians have left an indelible mark in international cinema and also the biggest awards’ night—the Oscars.

Shaunak Sen’s ‘All That Breathes’ also competed in the ‘Best Documentary (Feature) Film’ category at the 95th edition of the Academy Awards thisyear. However, the documentary about climate change in India lost to ‘Navalny’.

India’s Oscar score

Only three Indian films have been nominated in the ‘Best International Feature Film’ category, earlier known as ‘Best Foreign Language Film’.

Apart from the iconic Nargis–Sunil Dutt starrer ‘Mother India’, Mira Nair’s ‘Salaam Bombay!’ in 1988 and Amir Khan’s Lagaan in 2001 were nominated.

Mehboob Khan’s epic was the first Indian movie to be nominated in 1958 and Ashutosh Gowariker’s story about Indian farmers, ‘Lagaan’, the last film to get the nomination in the ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ category in 2002.

In 1992, celebrated Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray was awarded the Honorary Academy Award—the only Indian to receive the honour—in recognition of his work and “profound humanitarian outlook” as a filmmaker.

Costume designer Bhanu Athaiya also bagged the prestigious award in the ‘Best Costume Design’ category in 1983 for ‘Gandhi’—the Richard Attenborough film that swept with no less than eight Oscars, including the ‘Best Actor’ for its lead, Ben Kingsley.

In 2009, India’s celebrated music composer AR Rahman received two Oscars for ‘Best Original Score’ and ‘Best Original Song’ for ‘Jai Ho’ which he shared with lyricist Gulzar. Resul Pookutty also won in the ‘Sound Mixing’ category. Directed by Danny Boyle, the film starring top Hindi film actors Anil Kapoor and Irrfan made the lead pair—Dev Patel and Freida Pinto—international stars.

Rahman also received a nomination in 2011 for his compositions for Boyle’s ‘127 Hours’.

Indian producer Ismail Merchant has won nominations in the ‘Best Picture’ categoryin partnership with American director James Ivory.

Apparently, as a young filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra was also nominated for Academy in 1979. However, struggling to get his films made, he did not have the money to attend the ceremony.

‘Pi’s Lullaby’ from the film ‘Life of Pi’ was also nominated for ‘Best Original Song’ in 2012.

India’s official entry

The issue related to official nomination for AcademyAwards became a controversy many times,including in 2022 when Gujarati film ‘Chhello Show’ was selected as the officialentry.

RRR director Rajamouli then launched a massive publicity campaign and submitted his film for nominations in 14 categories, including ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Screenplay’.

India’s official Oscar entry is decided by the Film Federation of India after scanningmovies in different languages from across the country.

Given that Oscars is the only platform where films from across the world compete, the issue related to the selection of the official entry often becomes a cause of heartburn for supporters of a film which is not selected.

For instance critically acclaimed ‘The Lunchbox’—an unusual love story in the backdrop of Mumbai ‘dabbawalas’— did not make it to the list.

‘Black’, the 2005-Rani Mukherji and Amitabh Bachchan film about the relationship between a deaf and blind woman and her elderly teacher who later develops Alzheimer’s was another movie that failed to make the cut.

‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ directed by Anurag Kashyap is another film that many believe should have been India’s official entry. Though according to officials, the film with ‘profanities’ would havebeen a ‘bad example’ of India.

Then, many also believe that ‘Parched’ (2015) and ‘Tumbbad’ (2018) deserved better attention from the selectors.

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