Desi Talk - page 21

21
March 4, 2016
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
– that’s all you need to know
hile no Indian from
India or the U.S.
won an Oscar in
their own right, one
Indian-American
was part of the animation team
for the film that bagged an Oscar;
a British-Indian won for a feature
documentary, and a Pakistani
who splits her time between
Canada and Pakistan, won the
coveted golden statue Feb. 28 for
her documentary short. But there
were numerous Indians from the
film industry that shone at the
88th Academy Awards in Los
Angeles.
British-Indian director Asif
Kapadia, won the Oscar in the
Best Feature Documentary “Amy”
about jazz singing sensation Amy
Winehouse who suffered from
drug addiction and died from
accidental alcohol poisoning in
2011. Thanking sponsors and
supporters while accepting the
Oscar, Kapadia lashed out at crit-
ics includingWinehouse’s family.
“Really, this film is all about Amy.
This is all about showing the
world who she really was, not her
tabloid persona -- the lovely girl,
the unbelievable soul, funny,
intelligent, witty, someone spe-
cial, someone who needed look-
ing after,” Kapadia said.
Winehouse’s father Mitch
Winehouse called it “a negative,
spiteful and misleading portray-
al.”
Pakistani documentary film-
maker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
won her second Oscar for Short
Documentary, this time for The
Girl in the River: The Price of
Forgiveness, dealing with honor
killing in Pakistan. Chinoy, who
splits home between Canada and
Pakistan, was called the “Pride of
Pakistan,” by that country’s Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif.
And U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry who was in Pakistan
when the film won the award
praised the documentary for
changing the language around
honor killing. “This is what hap-
pens when determined women
get together,” Chinoy said accept-
ing the award, adding, “This week
the Pakistani prime minister has
said that he will change the law
on honour killing after watching
this film. That is the power of
film.”
She later told CBC News that
living in Canada and Pakistan and
going back and forth had taught
her “that you need to strive to
make Pakistan a better place,”
and indicated her life was at risk
when making the film.
Keralite Sajan Skaria, a charac-
ter supervisor worked on the ani-
mated film, “Inside Out” which
won the Oscar for Best Animated
Feature Film. A graduate in com-
puter science from the National
Left, presenter Priyanka Chopra arrives at the 88th Academy Awards in Hollywood,
California Feb. 28. Above, Chopra presenting the award to Margaret Sixel for Best
Film Editing for “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
Left, actors Daisy Ridley and British-Indian star of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Dev Patel, speak onstage during the 88th Annual Academy
Awards. Above, Asif Kapadia, left, and James Gay-Rees receive the Oscar for the Best Documentary Feature for their movie ‘Amy.’
A Touch Of
Brown
Amid the national debate and virtual
black/white split in Hollywood over
lack of diversity in front and behind the
camera, it was a good night for Indians
and South Asians at the glitzy 88th
Oscars,
Ela Dutt
reports
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