OSCARS 2017: #WHAT A MIX

Big moments to bigger blunders — this year’s ceremony will stay in mind for a long, long time

It was the biggest goof-up ever at what was the biggest award night for Hollywood. Or should we say, Moonlight eclipsed La La ‘Oscar’ Land? The 89th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, US, on Sunday were all about big wins and grateful speeches till a gaffe that no one could’ve even dreamt of happened — veteran Hollywood actors Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway (who somehow had the wrong envelope in hand) announced La La Land as the Best Picture, when it was Moonlight that had won the finale honour.

The La La Land team rejoiced and began giving their ‘Thank You’ speeches. But their squeals of joy were soon replaced by silence, broken by sighs, gasps and celebration — this time by team Moonlight, after reps for ballot tabulators raced onstage to notify them of the blunder. La La Land’s producer Jordan Horwitz graciously passed the trophy to producers of Moonlight.

Among other highlights of the three-hour ceremony, Iranian-American astronaut Anousheh Ansari accepted the Oscar, and delivered a speech on behalf of Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, whose film, The Salesman, won in the Foreign Language Film category. In a note read out by Ansari, Farhadi blamed US President Donald Trump’s travel ban for his absence. “An inhumane law that bans entry into the U.S... Dividing the world into the ‘us’ and ‘our enemies’ categories creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war.”

A dig was also taken at Trump by none other than host Jimmy Kimmel. Mimicking Trump’s tweet, he asked the audience to give “overrated” actor Meryl Streep an “undeserving” standing ovation for her anti-Trump remarks at the Golden Globes awards, held last month. Child actor Sunny Pawar, too, had his moment when Kimmel lifted the eightyear-old in ‘Lion King’ style, and an excited Pawar yelled, “Lemonades, Mikes and Ikes,” gesturing at the candies falling from the ceiling. There were cookies, doughnuts and jellies too! >>More on Pg 4

PHOTO:RICHARD SHOTWELL/INVISION/AP Iranian-American astronaut Anousheh Ansari accepting the Oscar, and delivering a speech on behalf of Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi

PHOTO:CHRIS PIZZELLO/INVISION/AP

PHOTOS:LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS The chaos after Best Picture award got mixed up; (right) Emma Stone was declared Best Actress; (below) Host Jimmy Kimmel holds up Sunny Pawar, Lion King style