Oscars remembers Irrfan and Athaiya; 'My Octopus Teacher' bags award
My Octopus Teacher, which has Indian filmmaker Swati Thiyagarajan as associate producer and production manager, won the best documentary feature at the Oscars, which also honored actor Irrfan Khan and costume designer Bhanu Athaiya in its "In Memoriam" segment. Indian echoes at the 93rd Academy Awards, a social distancing event held in the shadow of the pandemic, were faint but distinct.
The film documents the relationship of a filmmaker with octopus
The Netflix Original documentary, directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, documents a year spent by filmmaker Craig Foster and his unusual relationship with a female octopus in a South African kelp forest. Foster was also a producer via his involvement with the Sea Change Project while his wife Thiyagarajan was the production manager for the film.
Khan remembered along with Chadwick Boseman, Sean Connery
Like every year, the Academy Awards paid tribute to industry legends. Khan and Athaiya featured alongside Chadwick Boseman, Sean Connery, Christopher Plummer, Olivia de Havilland, Kirk Douglas, and others. Khan, one of India's most versatile actors with performances in Maqbool, Life of Pi, and The Namesake, lost his battle with a rare form of cancer on April 29, in a Mumbai hospital.
Costume designer Athaiya, India's first Oscar winner, also remembered
Athaiya, India's first Oscar winner, was diagnosed with a brain tumor and died at her home on October 15 last year after prolonged illness at the age of 91. In 1983, she won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Richard Attenborough's biopic of Mahatma Gandhi titled Gandhi, which swept Oscars with eight awards.
Sushant Singh Rajput, Rishi Kapoor also remembered
The Academy also honored veteran actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Rishi Kapoor, Shashikala as well as Sushant Singh Rajput, on their website's lookback section though their names were not in the video montage. Kapoor died on April 30 last year after a battle with cancer. He was 69. Rajput, 34, a rising star, was found hanging in his Mumbai apartment in June last year.
