The 95th Academy Awards, or Oscars 2023, ceremony is set to be one of the biggest awards shows for cinema lovers in India.
All eyes will be on the Best Original Song category. Composer M. M. Keeravani and lyricist Chandrabose have been nominated for their electrifying song “Naatu Naatu” from SS Rajamouli’s RRR.
It is the first time that a song from an Indian film has earned an Oscar nomination. The song has already created history by winning the Golden Globe award for Best Original Song and the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Song.
Though the song was picturised on lead actors N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has confirmed that the song would be performed by singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava at the ceremony.
Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava. “Naatu Naatu.” LIVE at the 95th Oscars.
Tune into ABC to watch the Oscars LIVE on Sunday, March 12th at 8e/5p! #Oscars95 pic.twitter.com/8FC7gJQbJs
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 28, 2023
Everything to know about Oscars 2023
How is voting for the Oscars held?
Voting in the final round for the Oscars 2023 is set to start at 9 am PT (10:30 pm IST) on 2 March. It will conclude on 7 March at 5 pm PT (6:30 am IST).
Nominees and the eventual winners are picked by over 10,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
When picking the nominees, members vote in their respective fields. For instance, members who are actors select the names nominated in acting categories while film editors nominate film editors.
The best picture category, however, is open to all members. Categories such as International Feature Film and Animated Feature Film have different rules.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) tabulates the ballots before the nominations are made public.
The final voting is held after the nominations are announced. At this stage, all categories are open to all members.
Following the end of the final round of voting, PwC again tabulates the ballots. The Academy says that only two PwC partners “know the results until the famous envelopes are opened onstage during the Oscars telecast.”
Both nomination voting and final voting are conducted online.
Indian celebrities who have joined the Academy recently
In June 2022, the Academy added 397 new members. Among them were actors Kajol and Suriya, director Pan Nalin, documentary filmmakers Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas, and writer-filmmaker Reema Kagti.
Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman is already a member of the Academy. Other Indian members are actors Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Vidya Balan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Ali Afzal and producers Aditya Chopra, Guneet Monga, Ekta Kapoor, and Shobha Kapoor.
Who is in the running for the ‘Big Five’ Oscar 2023 awards?
Actors Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams unveiled the nominees for the 95th Academy Awards on 24 January via a live stream from Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, the US.
Everything Everywhere All At Once is leading the nominations chart with 11, including four nods out of the ‘Big Five’ (picture, director, actor, actress, adapted or original screenplay) categories.
Michelle Yeoh is nominated in the best actress category while directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert have earned nominations in both the best director and best original screenplay categories. The film itself is in the running for best picture.
Apart from the four Big Five categories, the film also has nominations for best supporting actor for Ke Huy Quan and best supporting actress for Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Following close behind in the overall nominations are All Quiet on the Western Front and The Banshees Of Inisherin with nine nods each, including best picture.
Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick, the two highest-grossing films of 2022, are also in contention for best picture.
Oscars 2023 Nominations: ‘RRR’, 2 Indian-Made Documentaries Get Nominated
When, where and how to watch the Oscars 2023
The Oscars 2023 ceremony will be held on 12 March at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US. All 23 categories will be aired.
In 2022, the Academy announced eight categories off the air to keep the show within a time limit. Following criticism, winners of all of the categories will be announced live at the 2023 ceremony.
Jimmy Kimmel will return as the host of the ceremony for the third time. It will be streamed live on ABC.com, ABC app, Hulu Live TV, and YouTubeTV in addition to its exclusive TV broadcast on ABC.
(Main and Featured images: BDS2006 (talk)/CC BY-SA 3.0/Wikimedia Commons)
