On March 12, 2023, the 95th Academy Awards 2023/Oscars 2023 held at Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, United States (US). It has honoured movies released in 2022 in 23 categories. The ceremony for the same was held by the US’ Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
Key Highlights:
i.The ceremony was hosted by American Television host Jimmy Kimmel (James Christian Kimmel) for the 3rd time, who previously hosted the Oscars in 2017 and 2018.
ii.Indian Actress Deepika Padukone was one of the presenters at Oscars 2023.
- She is the third Indian ever to present an Oscar after Persis Khambatta in 1980 and Priyanka Chopra in 2016.
iii.American Film ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ was the 2023’s most-nominated film, with 11 total nominations. It was followed by All Quiet on the Western Front and The Banshees of Inisherin with 9 nominations each.
- The sci-fi film ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ won 7 awards out of 11 nominations. The film won the Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director awards apart from other technical nods for Original Screenplay and Editing.
- It became the most-awarded best-picture winner since Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” at the 2009 Oscars.
iv.Michelle Yeoh from Malaysia won the Oscar 2023 for Best Actress in Leading Role category for her role in the movie ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’. She became the first Asian actress to win in the category.
v.Oscars 2023 witnessed the replacement of the red carpet with a champagne-coloured one, breaking a 62 year record.
India’s Wins at Oscars:
Naatu Naatu from film RRR became the first Indian film song to win an Oscar
The song Naatu Naatu from Telugu-language film RRR (Rise, Roar, Revolt) directed by S. S. Rajamouli has made history by becoming the first Indian film song to win an Oscar. It won Best Original Song at the 95th Academy Awards 2023. It is the first song from an Indian film to be nominated, and win, in its category. It also has become the first song from a Telugu movie to win an Oscar.
- The song is composed by the music director M.M. Keeravani (Koduri Marakathamani Keeravani).
- It is sung by Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj, and has become the first song from a Telugu movie to win an Oscar.
- Its lyrics were written by Chandrabose while the dance scene was choreographed by Prem Rakshith.
Note: Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava performed for “Naatu Naatu” from RRR at the 2023 Oscar event.
Key Notes:
i.Naatu Naatu song also won a Golden Globe 2023 for the Best Original Song, a first for India.
ii.It also won the 28th Annual Critics’ Choice Award (CCA) 2023 for the best song, as well as Best Foreign Language Film.
iii.In 2009, Indian composer A.R. Rahman’s ‘Jai Ho’ won the Oscars for original song as well as for the Original Score in Danny Boyle’s U.K. production ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.
Indian documentary The Elephant Whisperers won Best Documentary Short Film; Guneet Monga’s second Oscar
The Elephant Whisperers became the first Indian film to win an Oscar in the ‘Best Documentary Short film’ category. It was produced by Guneet Monga and directed by Kartiki Gonsalves.
- The plot of documentary revolves around a family who adopts two orphan baby elephants in Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
Key Note:
i.In 2019, Guneet Monga’s documentary ‘Period. End of Sentence’ as a producer bagged the Oscar in the Best Documentary (Short Subject). However, its country of origin was the US.
ii.India’s filmmaker Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes was also nominated in the Best Documentary Feature Film category. It lost to the film Navalny.
Table showing the full list of Winners at 95th Academy Awards 2023:
| Sr. No. | Category | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Actor in Leading Role | Brendan Fraser (Movie- The Whale) |
| 2 | Actor in Supporting Role | Ke Huy Quan (Movie- Everything Everywhere All at Once) |
| 3 | Actress in Leading Role | Michelle Yeoh (Movie- Everything Everywhere All at Once) |
| 4 | Actress in Supporting Role | Jamie Lee Curtis (Movie- Everything Everywhere All at Once) |
| 5 | Best Picture | Everything Everywhere All at Once (Producers- Daniel Kwan , Daniel Scheinert, and Jonathan Wang) |
| 6 | Documentary Short Film
| The Elephant Whisperers (Director- Kartiki Gonsalves Producer- Guneet Monga) |
| 7 | Animated Feature Film | Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio (Director- Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson Producers- Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley) |
| 8 | Short Film (Animated) | The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse (Director- Charlie Mackesy Producer Matthew Freud) |
| 9 | Short Film (Live Action) | An Irish Goodbye (Directors- Tom Berkeley and Ross White) |
| 10 | Cinematography | All Quiet on the Western Front (Cinematographer- James Friend) |
| 11 | Music (Original Song)
| Naatu Naatu (from RRR; Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose |
| 12 | Music (Original Score)
| All Quiet on the Western Front (Composer- Volker Bertelmann) |
| 13 | Costume Design | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Costume Designer- Ruth E.Carter) |
| 14 | Directing | Everything Everywhere All at Once (Directors- Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) |
| 15 | Documentary Feature Film
| Navalny (Director- Daniel Roher Producers- Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris) |
| 16 | Film editing | Everything Everywhere All At Once (Editor- Paul Rogers) |
| 17 | International Feature Film
| All Quiet on the Western Front (Country- Germany) |
| 18 | Makeup and Hairstyling
| The Whale (Make Up Artist- Adrien Morot, Judy Chin (Hairstylist- Annemarie Bradley) |
| 19 | Production Design
| All Quiet on the Western Front (Production Design- Christian M. Goldbeck Set Decoration- Ernestine Hipper) |
| 20 | Sound | Top Gun: Maverick (Recipients- Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor) |
| 21 | Visual Effects
| Avatar: The Way of Water (Recipients- Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett) |
| 22 | Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
| Women Talking (Screenplay by- Sarah Polley) |
| 23 | Writing (Original Screenplay)
| Everything Everywhere All At Once (Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert) |
About Academy Awards/Oscars:
Awarded annually by the US’ AMPAS, these awards acknowledges artistic and technical merit for the global film industry. The winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette as a trophy, officially called the “Academy Award of Merit”.
- The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929.
- The Academy Awards ceremony was first broadcast by radio in 1930 and was televised for the first time in 1953. It is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony
Key Notes:
i.The person with the most Oscars ever is Walt Disney, who took home 26 in his lifetime.
ii.The most awarded woman in Oscar history is American costume designer Edith Head, who won 8 Academy Awards in the Best Costume Design category.
Recent Related News:
i.Dr Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister (PM) of India and Member of Parliament (MP) Rajya Sabha (constituency- Rajasthan), was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Honour at the 2023 edition of the prestigious India-United Kingdom (UK) Achievers Honours, a first-of-its-kind celebration of the UK’s Indian alumni, held on 25th January 2023 in London, UK, for his contribution to economic and political life.
ii.Ricky Kej, an Indian music composer and environmentalist based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, has his 3rd Grammy at the 65th annual Grammy Awards(Grammy 2023) under the Best Immersive Audio Album category for the album Divine Tides.
About the United States of America (USA):
Capital– Washington, D.C.
Currency– United States Dollar
President– Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
