Suburb March 2019

G-SETTLER
IndIa at the
Oscars!
Arthy Muthanna Singh
February was the month of the
Oscars too. Besides Valentine’s
Day, that is! Everyone had their
favourites. I did too. At every
party or wedding, people were
either talking about their
designer trip to the Kumbh
orthe Oscars. Both events had their share
of celebrity visits, helicopters and all! Movie
theatres in the NCR had Oscar nominated
movies being shown. Anyone could have
picked their very own favourites. So, even if
Roma did not win, which everyone had
expected to take all the top honours, there
was enough to keep the Indian audiences
going.
And then, when the winners were
announced, many of us were fascinated and
intrigued by the three Oscar connections to
our country; probably for the first time
ever: The Best actor award went to the
actor Rami Malekwho played Freddy
Mercury, the brilliant eccentric who was our
very own Farrokh Bulsara. What a voice he
had, what a larger-than-life persona! And
the music! The lyrics! The band was Queen
and the film Bohemian
Rhapsody. What also
happened was that it
resulted in a renewed interest in their
iconic music and the band itself.
Then there was the award for best actress,
which went to Olivia Colman for the film
TheFavourite. Believe it or not! Colman's
great-great-great-grandfather Charles
Bazett, married Harriot Slezzer. Researchers
discovered that she was born in the city of
Kishanganj, in Northeastern India, to an
Indian mother and British father.
And finally, a film set in rural India, titled
Period. End of Sentence, won the Oscar in
the Documentary Short Subject category at
the 91st Academy Awards, adding to the
films being made in this country on a topic
that has been kept under wraps for much
too long. Rayka Zehtabchi directed the
short film, which has been produced by
Indian producer Guneet Monga's Sikhya
Entertainment.
Don’t know whether it is case of just
reflected glory, but maybe, just maybe,
Indian
films are getting better? More relevant?
More internationally accepted? Whatever.
What I was very disappointed about was
the fact that the amazing film Village
Rockstars did not make it. Highly
recommended. It was sent as India’s official
entry to the Oscars, but did not make it to
the top nine films out of 87 entries. What is
really mind-blowing is that the credits for
director, producer, writer, editor and
cinematography go to Rima Das, a selftaught
film maker. Truly a labour of love. I
happened to watch the movie by pure
chance and am I glad I did! The locations
are stupendous and the performances of
the first-time actors were so, so perfect.
The film did win the Best Feature Film
‘Swarna Kamal’ award at the 65th National
Film Awards, which were declared at New
Delhi on 13 April 2018, but still… The girl
who played the role of Dhunu deserved an
Oscar for her performance. Truly. s
March 2019 | suburb life 33