My Academy Awards Wishlist

My Oscar 2011 wishlist!*

Best Movie: Black Swan
127 Hours was inspiring; so was The Fighter; True Grit was good too. But the real contenders are Black Swan & Inception for the sheer fascination they provide. Black Swan beats Inception by a small margin & I ve picked it over Inception just based on an instinct.

Best Director: Christopher Nolan for Inception
Here again the contenders are Chris Nolan, Darren Aronofsky & for his brilliant tweaking & interesting presentation of a true story Danny Boyle joins the list. Considering Boyle already got his due in 2009 and for all the splendid works of the other two in their past, the toss-up is between Aronofsky & Nolan and I would like to see Nolan win it here.

Best Actor: Colin Firth for The King's Speech
Everybody around says Eisenberg did awesomely in The Social Network but to me, it wasn't an extraordinary work that deserves an Oscar. It is the stammering & complex-ridden King-to-be who deserves the statuette for his awesome & subtle portrayal in The King's Speech. James Franco's essayal of Aron Ralston in 127 Hours isn't far behind though.

Best Actress: Natalie Portman for Black Swan
No second thoughts. One must watch the film to understand why. Period.

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale for The Fighter
His was a lovable role in the film & he made it extremely lovable with his silly pranks, hyperactive reactions & a shocking makeover from his usual brawny self. The other contenders who he has pipped are Andrew Garfield of The Social Network & Geoffrey Rush of The King's Speech. They were good in their own rights but when I ve got to choose one, I would choose Bale.

Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit
Even though Helena Carter's pillar-like support for her husband in The King's Speech was pleasing, it is Hailee Steinfeld's resolve in bringing the killer of her father down in True Grit that tilts the table in her favour & the young talent gets some brownie points for her age too!

Best Cinematography: Guy from 127 Hours
The weird shots of the grand canyon; sudden tranisition to handycams & a single-tone employed for the entire film make the work stand unique. Alas, it hasn't even been nominated. Who cares! This is my wishlist!

Best Artwork: Guys from Inception
Structures turned 90 degrees; Stairs ended mid-air; Trains sped through speedways & there was a snow-clad building in a skiing mountain. If these weren't enough to fetch this for Inception, think about the huge building projections by the sea in the limbo!

Best Original Score: A.R.Rahman for 127 Hours
If there is one film among the ones in contention where the music creates the desired effect, provides an apt canopy for the canvas on screen it is 127 Hours. I am not sure if I am saying this for Rahman but I am saying this. Liberation, Acid Darbari, Touch of the Sun & Festival all express the exact feelings that the trapped man would have wanted to express. The cherry on the cake is If I Rise accompanied by the hallucinations.

Best Original Song: A.R. Rahman & Dido for If I Rise , 127 Hours
I haven't listened to songs from other nominations but 'If I Rise' deserves the Oscar as a triumph of the relatively unknown but mesmerising instrument that Harpejji is. I know it is nearly impossible but it would be great if Rahman can do the 'double whammy' for a second time!

* - I have prepared the wishlist only for categories I feel I can assess & choose the winner from.

Will Rahman 'Bell the Cat'?

Should Rahman be Hollywood bound? This is the question I was left with after listening to his instrumental soundtracks of Danny Boyle’s latest 127 hours. If one pretty-good (and not the best by any stretch of imagination) work of Rahman could fetch him two Academy awards, should he not be aiming at further International glory by working with Hollywood directors who have an eye or rather ear for the importance of soundtracks in films? He has won the national awards, the prestigious padma award, awards from almost all Indian film industries wherever he has worked in. He has achieved all that is available in the Indian film industry & there is not much left for him to accomplish here. That makes his case to be Hollywood bound all the more momentous.

The other option (which is what he seems to be doing right now) is to be based in India, work with a restricted, selective set of Indian films, look for options from the West,sign for & work on apt films. This might look attractive for the legion of Rahmaniacs but unfortunately is not the best option for the single reason that the people from Hollywood aren’t going to seek someone based in India for sheer logistical reasons if not any other, even if the person is a two academy award winner!

That leaves him in the dilemma of whether to shift base or to work with the best in India. If he chooses the latter, it would add to the dearth of an Indian in the international scene and he would only be following the names of Ilaiyaraja & Kamal Haasan – People with tremendous class & yet not as internationally-famous as they deserve to be , thanks to either their disinterest (Ilaiyaraja’s case) or their restricted-scope (Kamal’s case). Thanks to Slumdog Millionaire, Rahman has crossed both these hurdles with a solid exposure in the international scene & the only way for him is forward. It better be! And ironically, this statement comes from someone who is going to be utterly disappointed if & when Rahman decides to quit Indian cinema for good. Disappointed because of the angst that there wouldn’t be a lot more Indian Rahman music to look forward to. The good reasons that would balance out the disappointments are:

• His move would encourage other brilliant talents in Indian film industry to take the extra mile in seeking international exposure & Rahman’s success would only bring them confidence to try that out.

• The true worth of Rahman would be seen by those who still consider him to be no better than some relatively new, rising music directors in the background score department. If one Liberation track of 127 hours cannot convince them that they are wrong, a bombardment of such tracks in the future should and would!

• There would be no more Yuvvraajs,Delhi 6s,Jhootha Hi Sahis whose blissful tracks would get lost in the commercial failures of the films, for,in the international scene, acclaim gained by music is not correlated to the commercial success that the film gains.

So,Go on Rahman. Lead the way, like you have always done!