Showing posts with label performances. Show all posts
Five reasons that defines the greatness of Oscar Awards
All great films and great performances may not win an Academy Award but all Academy Awards is given to some great film and great performance only, so not winning an Oscar doesn't mean that film wasn't great, but winning an Oscar guarantees the fact that there was something very good about that film, it may be the costume designing or the music or any technical award.
Let's talk about how the Oscar Awards is conducted, considering which here are five reasons which defines the greatness of Oscar Awards over the awards we have here in India.
1. Best Dressed: Actors in the west take it rather seriously when they dress for an occasion as big as the Oscars. There is dress code and everybody follows it. This makes the whole place painted in black [as they usually wear Black Tuxedos] whereas in the Filmfare award function, people are dress up in their own choice of clothes and do not follow the dress code as usual. This makes them look weird collectively. Some of them are dressed in Tuxedos, some wear nice formal suits, some wear Blazers and some even come with a shirt and jeans so as to look casual but collectively they end up looking unprofessional.
2. An AV for every nominee: This is something I really respect Oscar Awards for, there is an AV for every Nominee for any award at the Academy, be it an award for Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration or Best Film Editing. Now this AV doesn't just show us a clip of the movie nominated but explains the whole process briefly with which the costumes were selected for a certain film or the way the set of a film was decorated. Sadly, here at filmfare, we don't even think of such an idea, as if its a waste of time learning about the hard work these talented people have given to a certain blockbuster film behind the scenes.
3. Every Winner gets to talk: This is an extension to the point I just mentioned above, it is as important as the AV. Oscar is one of the greatest things that can happen to a person associated with movies, so even a winner for Costume Designing or Film Editing or any other technical award for that matters, gets the podium and is allowed to express themselves on the greatest achievement of their lives, that is Oscars. Here at the filmfare, it is somewhat out of the question, only once in a while, we get to hear a 10 or may be 15 second speech for someone winning a "LESS IMPORTANT" Award. Its a shame that we treat the lesser known people in the crew of a film like this.
4. An Oscar is hard to get: Even for an actor who has done great work through out his career, it take decades to hold an Oscar that officially belongs to them. Popular Actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Samuel Jackson, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson and many more great actors have been doing remarkable work from last 20 to 30 years, but still hasn't got the Academy Award, this dent in their achievement chart makes them respect the competition they have in "Hollywood." Peter O'Toole had been one of the most influential actor for more than 40 or 50 years but never won an Oscar. This keeps the Actors starve for better performance with every new film, thus ultimately raising the bars of the whole film industry. Where as, here in India we shower them with Awards based on their popularity, SRK has no less than 14 filmfare, and Amitabh a little behind him, even that is okay, maybe their so called performances was better than others, but mostly they get awards for their popularity and not their performance [because their have been ignored performances by Irrfan, Manoj Bajpai etc]. But what I don't understand is the way our young actors are pampered with the BEST ACTOR DEBUT Category. This Category spoils the actors and these young actors stop working hard thereafter, as you can see that many of the people who won that award, usually didn't worked well later in their career.
5. Best Picture is the most prestigious Award: At a Bollywood film awards, the most anticipated thing is the Best Actor Award. There will be many questions and guesses leading to find out the opinion on who is it gonna be. Where as in the west, it is not who but which is it going to be, I mean, the film, that ultimate film which many hundreds of people collaborated to make it worth watching, a magnum opus, a masterpiece, whatever you want to say. After all, the hero of the story is not actually the hero of the film, its a collaborative process and it should be treated as the most prestigious Award, so the BEST PICTURE it is, the most anticipated thing.
Sunday, 5 January 2014
Posted by Amrit
#List: Top 5 Mahatma Gandhi portrayal in movies
It is a National Holiday here in India, because of Mahatma Gandhi's 144th Birthday. So, I thought of writing something about the man himself. I am going to write about five of many portrayals of Mahatma Gandhi I have watched on the big screen and TV and will rank them performance wise. The idea of writing about a list of movies on the Mahatma seemed so common, perhaps everyone is doing it. So, I thought lets talk about the actors who perfect his role.
5. Portrayed by Rajit Kapoor in The making of the Mahatma [1996]: The only reason, he is at the 5th spot and not on the 4th or the 3rd is because this film showcased the life of Gandhi during his stay at South Africa only. Though, it was the only reason he was cast as Gandhi as Shyam Benegal wanted to make a movie on the younger Gandhi. He did all the justice with the role, just the film was a little slow.
4. Portrayed by Annu Kapoor in Sardar [1993]: Before Annu Kapoor became a popular anchor on Antakshari, he delivered some really fine performances in Ek Ruka Hua Faisla [Indian version of the classic 12 Angry Men], Mr. India [practically India's first superhero film] and Sardar. Sardar was made by Ketan Mehta on the life of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, played by Paresh Rawal during the time of Indian freedom and partition. Annu Kapoor took care of almost every little detail, and was quite convincing as Mahatma Gandhi. Though he could have worked more on his speech, which was a little inappropriate.
3. Portrayed by Darshan Zariwala in Gandhi, My Father [2007]: This is a different kind film on Gandhi's life. It focuses on his personal life rather than his political life, his relationship with his son and how the nation's father couldn't be a good father to his own son. For his portrayal as Gandhi, Darshan Zariwala received mixed reaction. He deserves the 3rd spot according to me.
2. Portrayed by Naseeruddin Shah in Hey Ram [2000]: Many of you won't agree with Naseeruddin Shah on the 2nd spot for the best Mahatma Gandhi's portrayals. It is not because he is one of my most favorite actors, but because he did it as intelligently as any other role he executes, not taking the responsibility of being Gandhi too seriously and perfecting it with ease. No other actors who played Gandhi ever tried perfecting or working on Bapu's Gujarati accent but he did, that is Naseeruddin Shah for you.
1. Portrayed by Ben Kingsley in Gandhi [1982]: Do I even need to tell who tops the list of best Gandhi portrayals, Ben Kingsley lived Gandhi. For those who never cared to find out what Mahatma Gandhi looked like, what was his mannerism, how he used to get angry and the way he ate, slept or cried; go watch Gandhi, Gandhi did everything like Ben Kingsley did in this Richard Attenborough Biopic.
#Honorable Mention: Portrayed by Dilip Prabhvalkar in Lage Raho Munna Bhai [2006]: it is a contemporary setup and his character has no issues of his own. He is here to make a difference through the protagonist. It is a great film, but perhaps the other 5 Mahatmas scored a bit higher.
#Honorable Mention: Portrayed by Dilip Prabhvalkar in Lage Raho Munna Bhai [2006]: it is a contemporary setup and his character has no issues of his own. He is here to make a difference through the protagonist. It is a great film, but perhaps the other 5 Mahatmas scored a bit higher.
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