Oscars Nomination 2021: No Surprises, Some Disappointments

 Priyanka  and  Nick Jonas’ announcements of the Oscar’s nominations were more  exciting than  the nominations themselves. Priyanka  gave the  list her  full Bollywood treatment. Sadly some  of  the nominations are  so  undeserving I felt embarrassed  to see and  hear Priyanka’s excitement.

 At least   three  of the Best Picture nominations—Mank,  Judas & The Black Messiah and  Sound Of Metal—do not deserve  to be nominated.And while  Minari, an American film in the Korean  language, is a  wonderful film I think it is being given the same American Dream  embrace  by  the Oscars as the highly-overrated Parasites last year.

I won’t  waste  my time disputing  the   Best Actor  nominations,because Chadwick Boseman is  getting it  for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, with  Anthony  Hopkins’  blessings.So shall we move on? The Best Actress category is  a  tough nut to crack this   year.Every nominee is a beaut. My favourites being Vanessa Kirby in Pieces  Of A  Woman and  Carey Mulligan  in Promising Young Woman. But how  could they  leave  out Rosamund Pike’s insanely wicked  performance in I  Care  A  Lot? Maybe  because it was  insanely wicked?

I hunted  for  ‘grandma’ Youn Yuh‑jung  and  ‘grandson’  Alan S. Kim  from   Minari  in the nominations list. Aren’t they the  backbone   of   Minari? Honour the deserving films, by all means. But please make   sure the  awards  go to the  right people.

And now  for our  own  Adarsh Gourav’s exclusion  from the Best Actor nominations. It was  only to be expected. The  Oscars snub everything Indian because we are known to make  sub-standard  films. Korea, China, Iran even Romania  is  ahead of us. Isn’t it apt that a film about an underdog  got  royally snubbed , except for the nomination  for Best Adapted Screenplay?  Don’t get excited about it. In all likelihood they will give it to  Nomadland.