’Life of Pi’ leads Oscar pack, spreads Indian flavour

mangaloretoday.com/NDTV

California, Feb 24: Los Angeles, Feb 25, 2013: The Indian flavour was predominant at the 85th Academy Awards, when “Life of Pi”, widely shot in India with Indian actors, won the maximum awards, including the best director’s trophy for Ang Lee, who not only thanked his Indian crew but also wowed everyone by saying ’Namaste’.
 
Another India link was "Lincoln", a historical drama about the last few months of 16th US President Abraham Lincoln, which has been co-produced by Indian business tycoon Anil Ambani’s Reliance Entertainment and DreamWorks.

 

 

However, India’s only hope - vocalist Bombay Jayashri - lost the award in the best original song category.

“Life of Pi”, based on Canadian author Yann Martel’s Booker Prize winning eponymous novel, won four out of its 11 nominations at the 85th Academy Awards Sunday.
Apart from the best director’s gong for Lee, who won his second Oscar after 2005 “Brokeback Mountain", "Life of Pi" clinched the trophies for best cinematography (Claudio Miranda), best music - original score (Mychael Danna), and best visual effects (Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott).

In his acceptance speech, Lee thanked his producers, "Indian crew", technicians who worked on the movie and the film’s lead actor Suraj Sharma.

"Suraj, where are you," he asked, and the cameras panned to Suraj, a 19-year-old Delhi boy who made his acting debut with the movie. He waved at Lee with joy.
Lee ended the speech with a warm ’Namaste’.

 

However, Lincoln took comfort in the fact that history was made by Daniel Day-Lewis who notched up the most Best Actor wins ever with his third Oscar for Lincoln.

Argo and Les Miserables won three awards each. Les Miserables star Anne Hathaway won Best Supporting Actress for playing starving prostitute Fantine.

 

 

 

Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook, beating Jessica Chastain who was nominated for Zero Dark Thirty.

Django Unchained won two Oscars - Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz who won his second Oscar, and Best Original Screenplay for Quentin Tarantino. Christoph Waltz has won both times he has been nominated, which gives him a 100% strike rate at the Oscars.

Adele won Best original Song for Skyfall, beating India’s Bombay Jayashri who was nominated for Life Of Pi.

Amour, which was also nominated for Best Picture, took home Best Foreign Film. The complete list of winners:

Best Picture: Argo
Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Best Director: Ang Lee - Life of Pi
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Best Foreign Language Film: Amour
Best Short Film (animated): Paperman
Best Feature Film (animated): Brave
Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained
Best Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio - Argo
Best Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi
Best Visual Effects: Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R Elliott - Life of Pi
Best Original Score: Mychael Danna - Life of Pi
Best Original Song: Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth - Skyfall
Best Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran- Anna Karenina
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell- Les Miserables
Best Documentary (Feature): Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn - Searching for Sugar Man
Best Live Action Short Film - Curfew
Best Documentary (Short Film): Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine - Inocente
Best Sound Mixing: Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes - Les Miserables
Best Sound Editing: Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall
Best Production Design: Rick Carter and Jim Erickson - Lincoln
Best Film Editing: William Goldenberg - Argo