Finally, the day has come when India made it presence felt at the Oscars. I am as happy and proud as every other Indian. Though "Slumdog Millionaire" is not an Indian/Hindi film, most part of it definetly has the Indian/hindi cinema kind of narration. It felt like hollywood has taken a leaf from Indian/hindi cinema. I can say "Slumdog Millinaire" is a mature Indian movie made in hollywood (by a British director). Still we can't take any credit for it. But definitely we enjoy its success. It was great to see AR Rahman, Gulzar and Resul Pookutty winning oscars. It was even great to see AR Rahman perform in Oscar ceremony.I was reading a lot of news about oscars the next day and found some facts which I didnot even know before. I would like to share some it.
The only category where an Indian has previously (before 2009) won an Oscar is costume design, by Bhanu Athaiiya for Gandhi. (Shekhar Kapoor directed film Elizabeth - The Golden Age won an award for costume design and Alexandra Byrne was the costume designer.)
Satyajit Ray was awarded academy (Oscar) honorary award for his contribution to world cinema in 1992.
Although some movies Like Mother India(1957), Salaam Bombay(1988) and Lagaan(2001) made it to Oscar Nominations in Best Froeign Language Film category, none of them won.
List of Indian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Actually it is not possible for Indian movies to enter Oscars, because Oscars are only for Hollywood movies. Best foreign language film is the only category were an Indian movie can win a oscar. We have great technicians, directors and actors like Mani Ratnam, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Deepa Mehta, Mira Nair, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Shekhar Kapur, P.C. Sreeram, Shyam Benegal, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Aamir Khan, Kamal Haasan, AR Rahman and many more (tough to name all of them) who have made there presence felt to the global cinema. They can only make it to Oscars if they work for Hollywood movies (like AR Rahman, Gulzar and Resul Pookutty). So Oscar does not define the quality of work they do. I would like to see more technicians and actors like this who will make mature movies and make it a point to the global audience.
P.S: This article includes information from different websites and some of my views. The information provided might be incorrect.
