Academy awards given out in Hollywood are knows as Oscars. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences give the prizes out every year. It started in 1929. The venue remains Los Angeles. Different facets of the making of a motion picture are given recognition – directing, acting, screenwriting etc.

The academy, AMPAS, is professional as well as honorary body. In 2007 the number of eligible voters was 5,830. Of this bloc 22% are actors. The renowned auditing house has been supervising the votes for the last 72 years – that is from the time of the birth of the awards. The last one – that is the 79th ceremony – happened in February 2007 at Kodak Theatre, Hollywood where 261 actors have each won an Oscar in the acting group.

The Oscar is a gold plated statuette mounted on a black metal base, weighing 3.85 kg and is 34 cm high. The official name of this statue is Academy Award of Merit. It shows a knight holding a sword standing on a film reel with five spokes. These spokes represent the principal branches of the academy – writers, director, producers, actors and technicians. MGM’s Cedric Gibbons supervised the design and George Stanley sculpted it. Alex Smith did the gold plated casting that consisted of 92.5% tin and 7.5% copper. Except for a minor change in the base, the original design and composition remains today as it was yesterday. Each year about 40 Oscars are made at Illinois, Chicago by R.S. Owens. The quality control is extremely strict. The slightest failure results in the object being cut into half and melted.

The origin of the name is disputed. One opinion is that Bette Davis named it after her first husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson. A second view is that an executive secretary of the academy was struck by the similarity between of the model and her “Uncle Oscar”. Oscar and Academy Award are two fiercely legally protected registered trademarks.

In 1950 a rule was introduced. Neither the owners nor their heirs could sell the statuettes without making the first offer to the Academy for $1. If the winner declined to agree then the Academy retained the Oscar. Oscars that had hitherto not been protected by this stipulation have been auctioned off and sold privately for six figure amounts. The rule has come under heavy criticism because it means that the winner does not own the prize.

Anyone aspiring to be a new member has to be invited by all the existing members. The eligibility depends on competitive nomination or any remarkable contribution to the movie world. The names of new members are annually considered. No announcements are made in this regard. The membership is categorized into 15 groups representing different streams in this world. There are also some Members At Large who do not belong any specific branch.

To qualify for Oscar nomination a film must be released the previous year, in Los Angeles – midnight 1st January to midnight 31st December. It must be of minimum 40 minutes except for those belonging to the short subject group. The members of the academy belonging to different sections nominate for their own particular stream. But the vote for the Best Picture must come from all the members. There is a second round of voting to decide on the winners.

The award giving ceremony is a much-publicized hype televised live. It takes place six weeks after nominee announcements. The extravaganza is elaborate with red carpet glamour and glitz. There is no formal dress code or typified music. It is claimed that the bonanza attracts billion viewers across the globe. Movies are banned from being advertised during the broadcast.

The first Oscar ceremony took place at Hotel Roosevelt. Later the venues were at either The Ambassador or Biltmore hotels. From 1944 to 1946 Chinese Theatre hosted the celebrations to be followed later on by Shrine Auditorium, Academy Award Theater, Pantages Theater, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Los Angles Music Center. From 2002 Kodak Theater has become the permanent address for Oscar ceremony. It is a world of fantasy with shops, eateries, nightclubs and a cinema boasting of six screens. Every movie that has won the Best Picture crown since the inception of the academy is showcased.

The academy has had to suffer criticism on many accounts. It is charged for being too conservative. Many pictures that have been given the best picture award previously have failed to stand the test of time. On the other side many that have not got full recognition are doing extremely well as regards critical approval. Comedy and comedians have not got the due share of recognition.

New additions are being made to the list of awards. The latest being best animated feature and best make up.Special awards are voted upon by special committees and not by the academy as an entire unit. These are Honorary, Special Achievement, Scientific or Technical awards. There are also the Thalberg Memorial and Hersholt Humanitarian Awards.

In its long history three films could win the Big-Five award – best in direction, actor, actress, screenplay and picture. This Grand Slam has been won by – It Happened One Night (1934), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).The three that have each won eleven Oscars are – Ben Hur (1959), Titanic (1997) and The Return of the King (2003).

Katherine Hepburn has won the greatest number of Oscars for acting, while Peter O’ Toole for the number of nominations. Jessica Tandy was the oldest winner at 80 and Tatum O’ Neal is the youngest at 10. James Dean is the only one to be awarded two posthumous nominations. Anthony Hopkins steals a record for the shortest appearance on the screen (22 minutes) and yet bagging an Oscar.

Behind all the dazzling statistics is the continuous relevance of the movie world and its commitment to portray life in the raw – asking questions and pointing to the future by keeping alive the torch of human civilization.

Related posts:

1. IIFA

The three founder-directors of IIFA came from different walks of life. Andre Timmins started off as a disc jockey and landed up in Xanadu, the famous nightclub of Mumbai. Viraf Sarkari a professional in hotel management joined him at Xanadu. Sabbas Joseph coming from the world of political science and journalism completed the triad.

IIFA is the first such attempt of its type in India. Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. India, event management as well as entertainment agency has given the lead in this field. For this purpose every year awards are given out. The happening takes place in a different country to honour the creative and technical merit of those connected with Indian film world. The voting process is transparent as chalked out by the IIFA management in conjunction with Price Waterhouse Coppers Pvt. Ltd. Fans vote via MSN. There are two groups – Popular Awards and Technical Awards. It is a four-day bonanza in an exotic locale, which enchants the host country with press meetings, parties, movie premiers, business pow-wow and special events. The show was kicked off for the first time in 2000 in London at the Millennium Dome. In the following year till 2007 the happenings happened in Sun City (South Africa), Genting Highlands (Malaysia), Johannesburg (South Africa), Singapore, Amsterdam (Netherlands), Dubai (UAE) and Yorkshire (UK).

India is a geographical cocktail consisting of various languages and shades of culture. With the passage of time Indians with their culture have spilled over to every corner of the globe. Today the pundits of Indian music and yoga have become household names globally apart from being incorporated in the English dictionary. Cinema is making all this possible with speed and aplomb.

Cinema is entertainment. In the harsh world of survival, Man with his sensitive susceptibilities has found in entertainment a release for pent up tensions. Unlike animals entertainment has always been vital to Man’s psyche. In depictions of ancient tribal dances the performer flaunts feathers and skins of animals as they mime the steps of the animals and incidents of life. Entertainment can take on many forms from simple story telling to dance, songs and plays. In due course the world of entertainment became more sophisticated with advancement in technology. This storytelling reached its peak with the invention of talking-movies. The television has made it more affordable and universal. But the rule of thumb remains the same – art must depict life and not vice versa.

Indian cinema gravitates around Bollywood. It is an informal reference to the Hindi films based in Mumbai. The world is not yet familiar with the other regional films. Bollywood dominates the scene. The name is a concoction of ‘Bombay’ (the previous name of Mumbai) of ‘Hollywood’. Many are not happy about making the giant Indian film industry playing second fiddle to its American counterpart. But the name is stuck and found its niche in the Oxford Dictionary.

The predominant language in Bollywood films is Hindu or rather Hindustani. In the latter variety Urdu has a prominent part. English too has crept in. In recent years a tendency has grown to dub films in more than one language. This has made films more pan Indian and international.

It is not without reason that IIFA events are hosted in new countries each year because Indians comprise of a sizeable population in the Western world. Indian culture is very much interwoven in the fabric of South East Asia and being incorporated warmly in other parts of the world including the Arab world, Israel and lately Africa and Afghanistan.

This year the IIFA awards were staged at Yorkshire County. A hiccup was that the Tamil super star, Rajnikanth was not present. None other than the legendary Amitabh Bachchan, the IIFA ambassador, offered him a very special award this year. But Rajnikanth by nature shies away from awards and the like. Perhaps he was busy at home with the release of his blockbuster Sivaji – the Boss.

The 8th IIFA was held at Hallam, Sheffield. The winner was Mehra’s Raang De Bsanti – a politico-musical treat with Amir Khan as the hero. Apart from being the best film it also bagged awards for best screenplay, supporting actress and musical direction. It snatched 7 other prizes in the technical field but failed in the Popular Awards.

Hirani was given the trophy for being the best director in Lage Raho Munnabhai. It was also considered to be the best story having the best dialogue. Hrithik Roshan got the best actor award for his performance in Krrish. Rani Mukherji got the prize for being the best actress (Kabhi Alvida Naa Mehna) and Arshad Warsi took the award for being the best supporting actor (Lage Raho Munnabhai). The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to the legendary Basu Chatterjee for his contribution to direction, producing and screen writing. The fans went hysterical when Dharmendra too was bagged this honour.

IIFA has the distinction of recognizing zones that are usually neglected but yet play a vital role in the industry – the comedian, negative actors and playback singers. Aishwarya Rai was considered to be the most glamorous and Hrithik Roshan for being its male hunky counterpart. Deepa Mehta was recognized for her contribution to the International film world with ‘Water’. Ten thousand fans gathered at Hallam to watch the stars participating in a Walk for the environment. Thousands more stayed glued to the television. Amitabha performed a duet with is son. County officials are hoping to rope in 10 million pounds from this tourist splurge.

Related posts:

1. Oscar Awards