India is known for its art and culture, and cinema has been a paramount part of our lives. Be it the Hindi film industry or any other regional film industry, the essence of cinema is in India. Our talented artists, directors, and singers try their best to entertain people by showcasing their best work possible.
When any Indian film performs well in other countries or wins any international award, all Indians get filled with pride. One such award is the Oscar; it is considered one of the most prestigious awards in the entertainment industry across the globe.
Oscars are also known as Academy Awards and are given every year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a symbol of excellence in cinematic production. The winner is awarded a golden statuette trophy, which is generally called the Oscar and officially referred to as the “Academy Award of Merit”. This trophy was made by George Stanley from Cedric Gibbons’ sketch design.
95th Academy Awards
The first ceremony took place in the year 1929, and it has come a long way since then. But did you know that there are very few Indians or Indian films that have won this prestigious title? Now that history has changed, Indian artists and Indians are getting recognition from all around the world.
The 95th Academy Awards will be held on March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The awards were presented to honour the movies released in 2022, and this year India won two Academy Awards, one in the category of best original song and another in the category of best documentary short film.
Oscar Awards 2023
For the year 2023, India was nominated in three categories: Shaunak Sen and Aman Mann’s “All That Breathes” are nominated in the category of “Best Documentary Feature.” The Elephant Whisperers of Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga have been nominated in the category of “Best Documentary Short Film.”
S. S. Rajamouli, who directed RRR, has created history by winning the first Academy Award for India in the category of Best Original Song for Naatu Naatu. The movie RRR features N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt, and Shriya Saran.
In the category of Best Documentary Short Film, The Elephant Whisperers of Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga won the prestigious Academy Award for India.
Oscar Award Winners & Nominations In India
Numerous Indian films and artists have received or have been nominated for the glorious Oscar Awards to date. By now, a total of 13 Indians have been nominated so far out of which 8 have bagged the golden trophy!
Let’s have a look at the list of the Oscar Award winners in India and the Oscar-winning Indian movies:
Mother India (1957)
Indian cinema witnessed its first Oscar nomination at the 30th Academy Awards with Mehboob Khan’s “Mother India” (1957). This epic drama featured Sunil Dutt, Nargis, Rajendra Kumar, and Raaj Kumar and was classified under the Best International Feature Film category.
The Creation of Women (1961)
Next, we saw Ismail Merchant’s “The creation of women” being nominated at the 33rd Academy award. The film was featured under the Best Short Subject (Live Action) category. The film displayed a traditional dance form depicting creation.
The House That Anand Built (1968)
The 41st Academy award had Fali Bilimoria’s “The House That Ananda Built” in the Best Documentary (Short Subject) category. It revolves around an Oriya man in the city of Nagpur in India.
The Bead Game (1977)
In 1978, at the 50th Academy awards, Ishu Patel’s “The Bead Game” was nominated in the Best Animated Short film category. The animation of beads that created mythical figures and creatures was par excellence in this short movie.
An Encounter With Faces (1978)
The year 1979 saw two people being nominated from the Indian cinema with K.K. Kapil and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s “An Encounter With Faces” featured in the Best Documentary (Short Subject Category). It showcased the life of children in an orphanage.
India’s First Oscar with “Gandhi” (1982)
What came next was a glorious year for the Indian film industry as in 1983 the world witnessed the first Oscar Winner in India with Bhanu Athaiya bagging the golden trophy for “Best Costume Design” in the movie “Gandhi”.
It had another nomination with Ravi Shankar for Best Original Score. The movie featured the life of the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi.
Howard’s End (1992) & The Remains Of The Day(1993)
The 59th Academy Awards witness Ismail Merchant being nominated again for two of his movies “Howards End” and “The Remains Of The Day” in the Best Picture category. Unfortunately, none of them won.
Lagaan (2001) & Little Terrorist (2004)
In 2002, at the 74th Academy Awards, two Indian films were nominated, the first being “Lagaan” in the Best Foreign Language category, and the second being Ashvin Kumar in the Best Short Subject (Live Action) category for his movie “Little Terrorist”.
Three Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
The year 2009 was a remarkable year with the Indian film industry bagging 3 Oscars. The film “Slumdog Millionaire” received all the praise for its excellent cinematic production.
The first award went to Resul Pookutty for the ‘Best Sound Mixing’ category, followed by AR Rahman who bagged two awards for the best original song along with Gulzar.
The way this film managed to share a detailed glimpse of the slums of India and its residents was beyond perfection. A slum dweller who becomes a crorepati on the famous show “Kaun Banega Crorepati”, is a dream come true for him.
127 Hours (2010) & Life of Pi (2012)
The 83rd Academy award in 2011 had one Indian nomination, AR Rahman for the movie “127 Hours” in the Best Original Song category. In 2013, the movie “Life of Pi” had a nomination of Bombay Jayashree for the Best Original Song category.
Another Oscar for India with “Amy” (2015)
It was again at the 85th Academy Awards in the year 2016 that we saw an Indian Oscar winner, Asif Kapadia for his film “Amy” in the Best Documentary Feature category. The film revolved around paying tribute to the pop singer Amy Winehouse.
Lion (2016)
The slum-dog millionaire British Indian origin actor Dev Patel was again nominated at the Oscars in 2017 for his movie “Lion”.
Oscars 2022
For the Oscars 2022, Tamil director PS Vinothraj’s “Koozhangal” has been selected to represent India. The movie revolves around rural South India, where an alcoholic father and his son venture out on an 8-mile journey to find the wife who had escaped because of his abusive nature!
Other than that, Ritu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s “Writing with Fire” was also nominated in the category of Best Documentary Feature.
Academy Awards History
At the point when the foundation was established in 1927, the awards committee was just one of a few that had been shaped by the new association. Introducing awards was thought about but not quickly executed.
It was not until May 1928 that the foundation endorsed the board’s ideas to introduce Academy Awards of Merit in 12 classifications—most extraordinary production, most imaginative or one of a kind production, and accomplishment by an actor, by an actress, in dramatic direction, comic direction, cinematography, art direction, in designing effects, in unique story composing, in variation composing, and in title composing.
The main awards covered movies that had been delivered between August 1, 1927, and July 31, 1928. The awards were introduced on May 16, 1929, at a function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The whole enrollment of the foundation had named competitors in all classifications. Five sheets of judges then, at, not really settled the 10 competitors with the most votes in every classification and limited those 10 down to 3 suggestions.
On April 3, 1930, the number of classifications was diminished to seven, and the two significant film grants were fallen into one, called the best picture. The foundation has since kept on making incessant modifications in rules, techniques, and classifications.
Among the main changes have been the choice in 1933 to modify the qualification time frame for the award in the same year and the expansion of the supporting actor and actress classifications in 1936.
Initially, the names of the award winners had been given to the press ahead of time with the specification that it should not be uncovered until after the award show. The Los Angeles Times printed the names of the 1939 winners in an early evening release before the show, removing all the excitement.
Hence, from that point forward, the winners’ names have been a carefully hidden mystery until the declaration at the award ceremony.
The Academy Awards were first broadcast in the United States in 1953, and beginning around 1969 they have been communicated globally. By the late twentieth century, the ceremony had turned into a significant occurrence, seen by millions.
Hosts since its inception included Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, and Billy Crystal. The Academy Awards saw a few changes, which incorporated a restriction of three hours, starting in 2019, and prior air date, starting in 2020.
FAQs
Ans. Costume designer Bhanu Athaiya won the first Academy Award for India in 1983 for the movie Gandhi.
Ans. In 2009, music composer AR Rahman won the Academy Award for India along with Resul Pookutty and Gulzar.
Ans. India won two Academy Awards in 2023.
Ans. For the year 2023, India won the Academy Awards in the category of Best Original Song for Naatu Naatu and in the category of Best Documentary Short Film, “The Elephant Whisperers.”
