One minute read. Written by the I Kid You Not team

The Oscars, is a prestigious (important) award that is given to honour the best talent in films, be it Hollywood or International cinema. The official name of Oscars is the Academy Awards, though they are popularly known as Oscars. The award is given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is an organization that aims to recognize excellence in arts and sciences in films.

The first Academy Awards event took place on May 16, 1929, at a hotel in Los Angeles, which had an audience of about 270 people. This year the 92nd Academy Awards will be held on February 9, 2020 and will take place at what’s called the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California. It has been held there for the last 18 years.

What’s the award?

The award includes money (it’s different amounts for different categories) and a trophy, which is a golden statuette (little statue) of a man standing on a little pedestal that has a film reel made on it. The reel has five spokes (like circles) on it which signify the five original branches of the Academy: actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers. See below:

Why the name Oscar?

It’s not very clear why the award has been called Oscar for so many years (since 1939). But, the popular story is that the Academy Award’s librarian, Margaret Herrick (who later became the executive director), thought it resembled her uncle Oscar and said this oe day – after that the statuette got Oscar as the nickname.

Till date a total of 3,096 Oscar statuettes have been awarded.

Has any Indian film an Oscar?

There is a category of awards called – Best Foreign Language Film. India has sent more than 45 films as official entries. Out of these, three films – Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay (1988) and Lagaan (2001) were nominated, but did not get the award. However, some films made on Indian themes have won – like Gandhi and Slumdog Millionaire.

While no Indian film has won, there are a few Indians who have been given this prestigious award.

Satyajit Ray was the first Indian to be given an honorary award in 1992. This was an Award for Lifetime Achievement (meaning that the Academy recognized his contribution to cinema and gave this award). The others were, Bhanu Athaiya (Best Costume Design – Gandhi, 1983); Gulzar (Best Original Song – Slumdog Millionaire, 2008); A.R. Rahman (Best Original Score / Best Original Song – Slumdog Millionaire, 2008) and Resul Pookutty (Best Sound Mixing – Slumdog Millionaire, 2008).