Muddy, muddy night

Individual achievement or symbolism, it8217;s an Oscar puzzle Aamir Khan got it so very wrong in the end. It may have been just a shot at t...

Individual achievement or symbolism, it8217;s an Oscar puzzle

Aamir Khan got it so very wrong in the end. It may have been just a shot at the little hailed Best Foreign Language Film award. But look what could have been. Look what we had imagined. Lagaan would edge past favourites No Man8217;s Land from Bosnia and Amelie from France, Khan and Ashutosh Gowarikar would take a bow on the big stage at Los Angeles8217; Kodak Theatre. The Lagaan bandwagon would zip down the road cleared last year by Ang Lee8217;s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 8212; and presto, Bollywood would be the flavour in world cinema for seasons to come. That desperately sought crossover of Bollywood fare from NRI clusters abroad to more multicultural multiplexes would finally be achieved. And look how Khan went about it. He was so professional. He pitched his tent in California, he enticed members of the Academy to screenings of his 224-minute extravaganza, he sold his product like a textbook marketeer. In an ordinary Oscar year, it would have been exemplary preparation.

But 2002 was clearly the wrong year to play Mr Nice Guy. Perhaps Aamir Khan would have been better off planting little stories on ethnic biases, thick glass ceilings and a hysterical paranoia among Academy members about the Bollywood challenge. Grandiose dreams back in India about Hindi cinema preparing for a global sweep may have been a little unrealistic, the perceived significance of the nomination may have been completely divorced from reality, No Man8217;s Land may always have had first claim to the prized statuette 8212; but by using a few dirty tricks, Khan and company would have at least been participants in this spring8217;s favourite game. And it may have put him firmly in contention for the Oscar. Host Whoopi Goldberg captured it best when she said, 8216;8216;So much mud has been thrown this year, all the nominees look black.8217;8217;

And that8217;s how these Oscars must be evaluated. Just the other day A Beautiful Mind, a highly fictionalised biopic about the mathematical whiz John Nash, seemed set to scoop all the key awards. It was the Academy8217;s favourite kind of movie: it told a survivor8217;s tale, it celebrated love and commitment, it was a huge box office success, it rocked no boat. Then the whispers began. That Nash8217;s probable flings with homosexuality and anti-Semitism albeit during his worst bouts of paranoid schizophrenia had been airbrushed out of Ron Howard8217;s disturbing tribute to genius. That the Academy is inclined to disregard black contenders. The one thing the Academy can be counted upon to do is apportion its endorsements most symbolically. It8217;s not just commercial interest alone that overrides individual achievement 8212; political correctness does too. How aesthetically balanced it turned out to be. Two big cheers 8212; best film, director 8212; for A Beautiful Mind; and two 8212; best actor, actress 8212; for black artistes Denzel Washington and Halle Berry. Individual achievement? We8217;ll never know, will we? Take heart, Aamir Khan.