India takes a break this year at Oscars after the momentous sweep of ‘Slumdog millionaire” in 2009 Academy Awards. AR Rahman was in the initial race with his soundtrack for Vince Vaughn comedy “Couple’s Retreat” but did not make it to the final nomination list. India’s official entry “Harishchandrachi Factory” (biopic on Dadasaheb Phalke) was not even considered.

The year 2009 will go down in cinema as the year of “Avatar” which beat “Titanic” as the biggest blockbuster ever ($2.5 billion and counting). “Avatar” is a personal triumph for the director James Cameron who returned to the big screen in 3D after a self-imposed exile of 12 years. The sci-fi film set on another planet Pandora with blue-colored humanoid race Na'vi became a must-see film of the year and registered record collections everywhere including India. James Cameron, who declared himself as ‘King of the world’ on the stage after 11-Oscar haul by “Titanic”, has tough competition from his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker”.

Based on a story by American freelance war journalist, “The Hurt Locker” is a realistic saga of bomb disposal team during the Iraq War. After winning many awards in the run up to Oscars, “The Hurt Locker” is turning out to be a David versus blue Goliath. But the controversy around an email sent by one of its producers to Academy voters requesting to consider their film over big-budget “Avatar” may hurt its chances. Academy banned the co-producer from the awards function on Sunday. No Sci-fi film including “Star Wars” and “E.T”. ever won the ‘Best Film’ award in Oscar history. But can the least successful ‘Best Film’ nominee in Oscar history ($18 million) “The Hurt Locker” upset the most successful film of all-time “Avatar”? Will “The Hurt Locker” get the first ever Oscar to a woman director? Watch out for the battle of exes!

First-time director and South Africa-born Neill Blomkamp stunned Hollywood this year by bringing out a science fiction thriller “District 9” from nowhere. Audience were swayed by the way the story was told about the relocation of extraterrestrial creatures in Johannesberg. The film went on to become the sleeper hit of the year and also won huge critical acclaim. Academy increased the number of ‘Best Film’ nominations from 5 to 10 this year. This helped films like “District 9” to make it to the expanded nomination list and get their due recognition.

Actor Brad Pitt’s films garner many nominations every year but fall flat at the podium. “Babel” had 7 nominations in 2007 and won only one award. “Benjamin Button” got 13 nominations in 2008 but was awarded only in 3 categories. His Nazi drama “Inglourious basterds”, directed by like Quentin Tarantino, received 8 nominations this year but will be lucky to receive more than 1 award (‘Best Supporting Actor’ for Christoph Waltz is almost a lock).

Director Jason Reitman was applauded for his two earlier works “Thank You For Not Smoking” and “Juno”. His third feature film “Up in the air”, about a corporate downsizer travelling across USA, has superb screenplay and is one of the best movies of the year. The film received three acting nods from the Academy – best actor nomination for George Clooney and two supporting actress nominations for Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. ‘Dark horse’ George Clooney may repeat the shocking 2009 ‘Best Actor’ victory of Sean Penn (“Milk”) over the much expected Micky Rourke (“The Wrestler”). But the long due actor Jeff Bridges may just pip him at the post with his splendid portrayal of a broken-down country singer in “Crazy Heart”.

79-year old Clint Eastwood was snubbed last year for the much acclaimed “Gran Torino” and was also surprisingly shut out of both ‘Best film’ and ‘Best director’ categories this year for “Invictus”. 60-year old Meryl Streep registered a record 16th Academy nomination with her ‘Best Actress’ nod in “Julie & Julia”. Her flawless performance in the real-life drama of the iconic French chef is competing head-to-head with Sandra Bullock’s “The Blind Side”, another true story of white family raising a black football player.

How can anyone reject two projects in the same year that turn out to be commercial moneyspinners and one almost guaranteeing an Academy award? Actress Julia Roberts did it for the sake of family time though the insiders insist that the remuneration was the spoiler for her horrendous decision. Sandra Bullock grabbed both offers and the rest was what they call history. Comedy-drama “The Proposal” went on to gross more than $300 million worldwide. Triumph-over-adversity-drama “The Blind side” became the first $200 million movie in US for any film marketed with a female lead. And Ms Bullock must be preparing for her first Oscar acceptance speech as I write this article.

My predictions for Oscar night:

Best Picture “Avatar”
Best Director James Cameron (“Avatar“)
Best Actor Jeff Bridges ("Crazy Heart")
Best Actress Sandra Bullock ("The Blind Side"),
Best Supporting Actor Christoph Waltz ("Inglourious Basterds")
Best Supporting Actress Mo'Nique (“Precious”)
Best Original Screenplay “The Hurt Locker”
Best Adapted Screenplay “Up in the Air”
Best Animated Feature “Up”
Best Foreign Language Film “The White Ribbon” (Germany)

Prasad Nadhavajhala
prasadnvn at yahoo dot com

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