Oscars 2021: India's first-Oscar winner, Athaiya, Irrfan Khan, SSR remembered
The 93rd Academy Award was staged today and the film-like show paid tribute to many "legends we've lost," during the 'In Memorium' section. The lengthy section gave a nod to Best Actor nominee (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) Chadwick Boseman and the first James Bond, Sean Connery, among others. Irrfan Khan and India's first Oscar winner, costume designer Bhanu Athaiya, were remembered as well.
The segment began with remembering all lives lost to COVID-19
The segment began with a nod to over three million deaths worldwide due to COVID-19, followed by the mention of lives lost to the "violence of inequality, injustice, hatred, racism, and poverty." Thereafter, multiple celebrities, who passed away in the year gone by, were shown on a slideshow as Stevie Wonder's As played in the background. The segment lasted a little over 3 minutes.
Frieda Pinto: 'There was simply no one like Irrfan Khan'
Khan's picture flashed by at 1.52 minutes, leaving many of his co-stars and fans emotional. His Slumdog Millionaire co-actor Frieda Pinto penned a note as part of the In Memorium gallery. "There was simply no one like Irrfan Khan," she wrote, remembering how he was "a portrayer of humanity in all its shapes and forms." She then included her favorite titles from Khan's repertoire.
India's first: Athaiya had bagged an Oscar for 'Gandhi'
To recall, Khan was part of major Hollywood productions like A Mighty Heart, The Amazing Spider-Man, Life of Pi, Jurassic World, and Inferno. For the unversed, Athaiya was India's first Oscar winner, for being the Best Costume Designer (Gandhi). While Khan passed away in April, Athaiya died in October last year. The Academy's website also paid tributes to Sushant Singh Rajput and Rishi Kapoor.
Chloe Zhao's 'Nomadland' became the Best Picture, Zhao Best Director
Now coming to the overall event, Oscars 2021 saw the first woman of color Chloe Zhao lift the trophy for Best Director. Zhao's Nomadland became the Best Picture with Sir Anthony Hopkins and Frances McDormand bagging the Best Actor and Best Actress awards. Soul won the Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Score, while Promising Young Woman won the Best Original Screenplay.
