Oscars 2021: "Indians and Oscar connection"; We bet you didn't know about this

The grand award season is finally over with the Oscars 2021 ending on a high note. We all were eagerly waiting for this night.

Films like Nomadland, Minari, Promising Young Woman, Judas, and The Black Messiah were among the main headlines of the award ceremony. 

Priyanka Chopra and her husband Nick Jonas announced the nominations earlier this month. The White Tiger, a film by PC, was also nominated. The critically acclaimed film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Priyanka had made the exciting announcement on social media "We've been nominated for an Academy Award! Ramin and the #TheWhiteTiger team deserve a lot of credit. The fact that I was the one to announce the nomination made it all the more special. I am excited."

Indians have a close link to the Oscars because they have one of the world's largest film industries. With India's first Oscar in 1983, Bhanu Athaiya set the ball rolling. There has been no turning back since then. They've all made us proud, whether it's AR Rahman, Gulzar, or the late Irrfan Khan. 
So, here's some Oscars trivia that we're sure you didn't know about India. 

In 2009, Gulzar and AR Rehman were awarded the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but Gulzar did not attend the ceremony. The veteran lyricist revealed in an interview that he injured his right shoulder while playing tennis and was in "excruciating" pain, preventing him from attending. He said that he regrets not attending the ceremony and that this regret will never leave him.

In 1983, Bhanu Athaiya received India's first Academy Award for costume design for the film "Gandhi." According to the New York Times, she returned her Oscar statuette to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science in Los Angeles for safekeeping after finding a tumor in her brain in 2012. She died on October 15, 2020, in Mumbai, at the age of 91.

Danny Boyle, the producer of Slumdog Millionaire, said Irrfan Khan was instrumental in the film's Oscar success. Boyle said that Fox Searchlight's Peter Rice told him to cast Khan whether or not he had a part. Rice eventually bought and released the film, launching it on a path to the Oscars, and Boyle claims it was partly due to Irrfan Khan!

At the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscars after-party, Priyanka Chopra met her now-husband Nick Jonas for the first time! That's right! The two first met in person a few months before the Met Gala, at an Oscars after-party. Nick is said to have gotten down on one knee in front of "a lot of people" and declared, "You're real!" "Where have you been all my life?" says the narrator. And, as they say, the rest is history!

AR Rahman was on the verge of losing his Oscars, or so he thought. The renowned composer told a famous Tamil magazine that he misplaced his awards before quickly recovering them. The statuettes were at his mother's place, and he hadn't given them much thought until her death in December 2020, when he decided to bring them home. According to Rahman, his mother used to keep them wrapped in a cloth in a cupboard. When he searched the cupboard where he thought they were, he couldn't find it. He thought they were missing before his son told him they were in a different cupboard! 

Sunita Kapoor gave Anil Kapoor a hard time the night before the Oscars! “Oscar is unimportant to the family. The night before the Oscar, my wife and I were talking about Sonam! I said, "Leave Oscar, listen to me first," and then added, "Let me sleep no." Sunita fired a lot of shots at me the night before the Oscars,” Anil Kapoor revealed. Family is still there to keep us grounded!