Indian cinema has a long history of making its mark at the Oscars, from classic nominations like ‘Mother India’ (1957) to recent successes such as ‘RRR’ (2022). While competition remains fierce, hopes are high again as ‘Laapataa Ladies’ prepares to enter the race for the Best International Feature Film title. Let’s take a close look into the rising buzz surrounding the film. The Journey of ‘Laapataa Ladies’: From Theatrical Miss to Netflix Success Produced by Jio Studios, Aamir Khan Productions, and Kindling Pictures, ‘Laapataa Ladies’ premiered on September 8, 2023, at the Toronto International Film Festival. After its theatrical release on March 1, 2024, the initial reception was unfavorable. However, the satirical film found new life following its Netflix debut on April 26, garnering widespread acclaim. The movie was directed by Kiran Rao. The production credit goes to Rao, Aamir Khan, and Jyoti Deshpande. The cast features Pratibha Ranta, Nitanshi Goyel, Chhaya Kadam, Sparsh Shrivastava, Abhay Shankar Dubey, Geeta Aggarwal Sharma, Ravi Kishan, and Durgesh Kumar. Read more: October 2024 Bollywood Release Lineup: Top 10 Hindi Movies to Watch ‘Laapataa Ladies’ Sets Its Sights on the Oscars On Monday, September 23, the Film Federation of India announced ‘Laapataa Ladies’ as its official entry for the 97th Academy Awards. This film will compete for a nomination in the Best International Feature Film category, representing India on the global stage. The selection committee, consisting of 13 members and chaired by acclaimed Assamese director Jahnu Barua, has made this decision. The selection process saw the movie outshine 29 notable contenders, including Cannes winner ‘All We Imagine as Light’, the Bollywood hit ‘Animal’, and the Malayalam film ‘Aattam’. As per Oscar rules, only one film from each country can be submitted for the Best International Feature Film category. A shortlist of 15 films is created from entries submitted worldwide, from which 5 will be nominated for the final event. Read more: Must-watch South Indian Films Releasing in October 2024

Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan has stated that fellow Irishman and Oscar contender Cillian Murphy would make a "magnificent" 007. "Cillian would do a magnificent job as James Bond on His Majesty's Secret Service," Brosnan told the BBC. According to reports, Murphy might be in the running; however there have always been whispers about who could play Bond next. Brosnan was speaking at the annual Oscar Wilde Awards in Los Angeles, which honour Irish creative brilliance, reports BBC. Murphy is expected to win best actor at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday for his portrayal in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. Read more: Amazon Prime Originals in March 2024: List of New Shows and Movies He stated that he had not heard the Bond speculations and that he had not given any attention to perhaps winning the Academy Award: "I just want to go in and have a good time." He faces up against Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers), Colman Domingo (Rustin), Bradley Cooper (Maestro), and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction), said the report. Murphy also spoke about his 16-year-old son Aran, who will make his cinematic debut in Taika Waititi's Klara And The Sun. "I'm very proud of him, he's a great actor," he told reporters on the Irish-themed green carpet, adding that Aran did not need his father's instruction. Brosnan said he was "greatly honoured" to receive an Oscar Wilde award for his achievements to the cinema and television industries. He hailed the "kinship" between Ireland and America, saying he arrived to the US in 1982 "on a wing and a prayer... and then got a job, [on the drama series] Remington Steele". Read more: Prince Harry, Britney Spears’ memoirs shortlisted for British Book Awards

Jamie Lee Curtis comes from a strong acting lineage and now she has brought home an Oscar for her family. Curtis paid homage to her Oscar-nominated parents, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, after she won best supporting actress for her role as Deirdre Beaubeirdre in the blockbuster indie film “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” She plays an IRS agent who has several guises through different timelines in the multiverse. The veteran actor made her long-waited first Oscar nomination count. “My mother and my father were both nominated for Oscars in different categories,” Curtis said, beginning to cry as she accepted the award. “I just won an Oscar!” When Curtis was asked backstage if her parents are proudly looking down on her, the actor offered some serious candor in her response. Also Read: Ke Huy Quan wins Oscar in an inspiring Hollywood comeback “I don't believe in a world where people are looking down on us,” she said. “I think we are them in our actions, in our deeds and in our ideas. We build our own. We give them to our children, and that's how the world goes on. I am a product of them. I am a proud product of them. I know they would be incredibly proud of me.” Curtis’ nomination comes more than 60 years after her mother was nominated for her supporting acting work in “Psycho.” Her father received a nod in 1959 in the best actor category for “The Defiant Ones.” Jamie Lee Curtis, 64, became the eighth oldest in the category’s history to win. She surpassed Judi Dench, who held the slot for her role in “Shakespeare in Love.” Not bad for Curtis who had all but resigned herself to the idea that she was not going to be nominated for an Oscar in her career. The actor wore a face of surprise when she found out about her nomination in an photo she later posted on Instagram. Curtis has starred in a number of films including the “Halloween” franchise movies starting in 1978, along with other notable projects such as “Trading Places,” “My Girl,” “True Lies,” “A Fish Called Wanda,” “Freaky Friday” and “Knives Out.” But it was her performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” that ultimately landed her in the Oscars’ record books. “To all the people who supported the genre of movies I've made for all these years — the thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, we just won an Oscar together,” Curtis shouted as she raised her trophy. Last month, Curtis won at the SAG Awards for best supporting actress. Curtis beat Angela Bassett, Kerry Condon, Hong Chau and Stephanie Hsu in the category.

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” has had an Oscar wish come true. The director’s stop-motion, musical take on the puppet who longs to be a real boy won Netflix its first animated feature trophy on Sunday. The category has primarily gone to either a Walt Disney or Pixar-produced film for the past decade — with the exception of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” “Animation is ready to be taken to the next step. We are all ready for it. Please help us keep animation in the conversation,” del Toro said. Also Read: ‘Navalny,’ about dissident fighting Kremlin, wins doc Oscar “Pinocchio” was considered the contender to beat. It swept several awards including the Golden Globe and the top honor at the animation industry's Annie Awards. The movie beat out “Turning Red,” “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and “The Sea Beast.” The voice cast includes Ewan McGregor, Christoph Waltz, fellow Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton. It earned rave reviews for a stunningly beautiful production that takes a dark look at issues of love and mortality between the titular puppet and surrogate father, Gepetto. A polar opposite of Disney's 1940 version, this “Pinocchio” references Catholicism, fascism and the ugliness of war. The movie was not about the titular character learning to be the perfect boy, del Toro said. “I think it’s a lesson that’s urgent in the world," he told reporters in the press room after. "We are saying disobedience is not only necessary, it is a virtue.” The Mexican-born del Toro, who won the Oscar for best director in 2018 for “The Shape of Water," has said animation is pure cinema. Animators have been hitting back in recent years against the stigma that animated movies are just a kids' genre. For del Toro, animators should be treated as artists — not technicians. He pointed out that in his “Pinocchio,” they are listed in the credits even before the main voice actors. “This is an art form that has been kept commercially and industrially at the kids table for so long,” del Toro said. “A win helps but it is about going forward as a community making it.” Co-director Mark Gustafson echoed that message on stage. “It’s so good to know this art form we love so much — stop motion — is very much alive and well,” Gustafson said. Del Toro, who has established two filmmaking scholarships, says he is now committed to financing a stop motion class for students from Mexico at the Gobelins animation school. Young people, particularly those who are Latin or part of a minority, are burdened with an inherent pressure to succeed. “The first duty of representation is to do it really well ... because you’re not doing it for you,” del Toro said. “You’re doing it for people that come after you and are looking for opportunities. If you don’t that, you’re closing that door.” When del Toro came in the 1990s to the U.S., he encountered “a lot of open and subtle racism.” He remembered “with great chagrin” an interview his cinematographer, Oscar-winner Guillermo Navarro, had with a talent agent. The agent “said to him 'Why do I want a Mexican? I have a gardener.” While things have improved for people of color, there is still a very tough glass ceiling to overcome. “You have to keep pushing it all the time. It doesn’t end with one generation. It doesn’t end with one person,” del Toro said. “But again, together you push that limit more and more and create opportunity.”

“Navalny,” a look at a Russian opposition leader following an attempt on his life, has won the Oscar for best documentary feature. Director Daniel Roher’s portrait of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has shadowy operatives, truth-seeking journalists, conspiracy theories and Soviet-era poisons. It is a film with obvious political poignance following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Roher accepted his statuette by saying he dedicated it to Navalny and to all political prisoners around the world. "Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to us all: We must not be afraid to oppose dictators and authoritarianism wherever it rears its head. Navalny's wife, Yulia, said: “Alexei, I am dreaming of the day you will be free and our country will be free. Stay strong, my love.” Also Read: Antiwar ‘All Quiet’ wins the Oscar for international film Navalny is a media savvy, anti-corruption campaigner in his mid-40s who has for many years been a headache for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He’s released numerous reports about corruption in Russia and the Putin administration and become a popular and rallying figure among like-minded Russians. Roher was able to sit down with Navalny during his brief stay in Berlin in 2020 and early 2021 as he was recovering from being poisoned and seeking the truth behind the unsuccessful murder attempt. The media has called Navalny the Kremlin’s fiercest critic. And he is seemingly undaunted by the intimidation and the arrests he’s endured. The film was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the documentary audience award and the festival favorite award. “'Navalny,' first and foremost, is about the passion, drive and inspiring heroism of Alexey Navalny, who even as we celebrate this award continues to languish in a penal colony,” said Amy Entelis, an executive vice president at CNN Worldwide. The film, presented by CNN Films and HBO Max, represents CNN's first Oscar. “Navalny” beat the other documentary nominees “All That Breathes’; “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”; “Fire of Love”; and “A House Made of Splinters.”

The war movie that abhors war has won an Oscar for best international film, along with three other statues. “All Quiet on the Western Front,” starring Felix Kammerer and directed and co-written by Edward Berger, earned nine nominations, including best picture. It also won for cinematography, production design and original score Sunday night. “I think it might feel incredible but I don’t quite know yet because I haven’t processed it yet,” Berger said backstage. “I'm a little bit on autopilot.” Also Read: 'Everything' wins best picture, is everywhere at Oscars Berger was joined onstage by Kammerer as well as others involved in the film. “This was your first movie and you carried us on your shoulders as it was nothing,” he told the 27-year-old Austrian actor. “Without you, none of us would be here.” The Netflix film is based on the classic 1929 novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque. Set during World War I, it follows the life of a young German soldier who enlists in the army with his friends. But the realities of war shatter his hopes of becoming a hero and he focuses on his own survival. “We tried to make a film about our past, about our responsibility in Germany and with our history,” Berger said. “Our urge was to talk about our guilt and our shame that we’ve brought and the terror that the two wars have caused in the world. Hopefully, at some point we will stop making the same mistakes in the future.” The German-language film doesn't hew exactly to Remarque's novel. Instead, it deviates into political issues against the backdrop of the war. It premiered last year, when Russia invaded Ukraine in the biggest military conflict in Europe since World War II, lending an unexpected relevancy to the movie. “It's absolutely terrible,” cinematography winner James Friend said of the war in Ukraine. “It's a lesson that we can just sort of learn from really.” "All Quiet on the Western Front” won seven BAFTA trophies, including best film. Berger said he was happy, proud and grateful that Hollywood embraced the movie. “I think we do have a little bit of an inferiority complex as German moviemakers because we feel like a small country with less stars and less visibility as opposed to England and America,” he said. “I hope this gives me and a few others a bit of confidence to say, ‘Let’s just do it, let’s just do our movies.’” The original American movie starring Lew Ayres debuted in 1930 and won Oscars for best picture and best director. It was later made into a television movie starring Richard Thomas and Ernest Borgnine, winning an Emmy and a Golden Globe. “All Quiet on the Western Front” beat out “Argentina, 1985” from Argentina, “Close” from Belgium, “EO” from Poland and “The Quiet Girl” from Ireland.

M.M. Keeravani has brought the spotlight back to India after a historic Oscar musical win. Keeravani won best original song for his joyously energetic anthem “Naatu Naatu” from the film “RRR.” The music was written by Keeravani and lyrics by Chandrabose. “It's just the beginning of everything,” Keeravani said backstage. “For the world, particularly the Western world, folks are more on India and Asian music. It's just long due. I feel very happy to open doors and the world to embrace my culture.” “Naatu Naatu” is the first song from an Indian film to earn a nomination and win in the best original song category. Also Read: Deepika Padukone introduces ‘Naatu Naatu’ at Oscars Keeravani delighted the Oscar audience by saying he grew up listening to The Carpenters and then began singing the band's “Top of the World” with new lyrics, including “'RRR' has to win/Pride of every Indian.”  

Oscar winners announced Sunday: Best picture: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Best actress: Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Best actor: Brendan Fraser, “The Whale” Best supporting actor: Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Best supporting actress: Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Original song: “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” Film editing: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Best director: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Best animated feature: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” International feature film: “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany) Documentary feature: “Navalny” Live action short: “An Irish Goodbye” Cinematography: James Friend, “All Quiet on the Western Front” Makeup and hairstyling: “The Whale” Costume design: “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Documentary short: “The Elephant Whisperers” Animated short: “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” Production design: “All Quiet on the Western Front” Music (original score): Volker Bertelmann, “All Quiet on the Western Front” Visual Effects: “Avatar: The Way of Water” Original screenplay: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Adapted screenplay: “Women Talking” Sound: “Top Gun: Maverick”

Brendan Fraser has won the best-actor Oscar for “The Whale,” a transformative role in which he revived a career that was once so bright. “I started in this business 30 years ago and things didn’t come easily to me,” said Fraser, breathing heavily. “I just want to say thank you for this acknowledgement.” Fraser was one of five first-time nominees in the category, the first time that had happened since 1935. Fraser beat out Austin Butler of “Elvis,” Colin Farrell of “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Paul Mescal of “Aftersun,” and Bill Nighy of “Living.” Fraser figures the role of Charlie, a 600-pound reclusive gay English teacher who tries to restore his relationship with his teenage daughter, found him at the perfect time. Also Read: Michelle Yeoh makes history with best actress Oscar win Any earlier in his career and Fraser has said he wouldn't have had the life experience or heartache to authentically play a character who lives with sadness, pain and life-threatening obesity. Fraser's portrayal earned him standing ovations at film festivals in Venice and Toronto, and the early praise continued building through the fall and winter. In addition to receiving the best reviews of his career, he earned a SAG Award for his performance. Along the way, he's given emotional acceptance speeches, unafraid to cry at times. It's a career comeback, which Hollywood has always loved. The 54-year-old American Canadian actor broke out in the early 1990s with the comedy “Encino Man” and the drama “School Ties.” He was the face on movie posters for "George of the Jungle” and “The Mummy” trilogy, where he worked with fellow Oscar nominee Michelle Yeoh. He did dramatic turns in “Gods and Monsters,” “The Quiet American” and 2006 best-picture winner “Crash.” He had his share of projects that bombed, too. Then Fraser all but disappeared. He was off the big screen for several years dealing with a series of personal issues involving divorce, his mother's death, health problems and an alleged assault by the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. He boycotted this year's Golden Globes as a result. He regained career momentum with a series of cable TV shows before appearing in director Steven Soderbergh's movie “No Sudden Move” two years ago.

Michelle Yeoh has won the Academy Award for best actress and made history all at once. The Malaysian-born actor became the first Asian woman to win the Academy Award for best actress on Sunday for her multifaceted performance in the multiversal “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” “I have to dedicate this to my mom and all the moms in the world because they are really the superheroes and without them none of us would be here tonight,” she said. “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibility. This is proof that dreams dream big and dreams do come true. And ladies, don't let anyone ever tell you you're past your prime.” Yeoh's victory comes almost 90 years after Luise Rainer, a white actor, won the same category for donning “yellowface” to play a Chinese villager in “The Good Earth.” As a nominee, Yeoh was the first in the category who identified as Asian. Merle Oberon, who was nominated in 1935 for “The Dark Angel” but didn't win, hid her South Asian heritage, according to birth records. Also Read: Ke Huy Quan wins Oscar in an inspiring Hollywood comeback Yeoh beat out past Oscar winner Cate Blanchett ("Tár"), as well as Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”), Ana de Armas ("Blonde") and Andrea Riseborough ("To Leslie"). The category also received notice for who wasn't nominated: In a year of strong performances from Black women like Viola Davis ("The Woman King") and Danielle Deadwyler ("Till"), they were shut out. Meanwhile some criticized the grassroots campaigning by A-listers on social media for Riseborough. Yeoh appeared a lock after winning seemingly every award everywhere, including the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award, for her nuanced portrayal of Evelyn, an immigrant Chinese wife, mother and laundromat operator bracing for a tax audit. Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan from the film also won best supporting actor Oscars. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won for best directors and original screenplay for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and it took home best picture as well. Yeoh got her start in the kung fu cinema world but rose to stardom in 1992 as Jackie Chan's co-star in “Supercop." American audiences got to know her even better over the next decade with hits like “Tomorrow Never Dies” and Ang Lee's “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon." When she first read the script for “Everything Everywhere,” Yeoh thought it was “an independent film on steroids.” She was ultimately swayed by the opportunity to give voice to immigrant mothers and grandmothers who go unnoticed. The multiverse movie was also a showcase across a bevy of genres — drama, comedy, sci-fi and fantasy. At 60, Yeoh has been heavily in demand since her standout turn as a controlling matriarch in “Crazy Rich Asians.” From there, she has done everything from a “Star Trek” spinoff to Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” Yeoh will be seen later this year in the Disney+ series “American Born Chinese." She is also preparing to reunite with “Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon M. Chu for the screen adaptation of the musical “Wicked.”