What backstage drama goes behind award ceremonies

It's that time of the year in B-Town — award season time, whilst up north the buzz is all about the next instalment of the Jaipur Literary Festival and the Patna Lit Fest that follows as well as the ongoing Kolkata Literary Festival; here in the city of dreams — this month is about dreams realised. But as with literary festivals, the stories off stage, the drama that leads up to the main day, the jockeying for awards, the absence or the presence of actors or rather stars — is what makes up the narrative. 

Let me issue a disclaimer here, I have won a couple myself and it has been an entirely pleasant experience, more so because writers in filmdom are so placed in the pecking order that it’s a relatively drama-free experience. However, I assure you that my own personal experience shall not bias the telling of the “back story” of awards. So here we go — awards mania really starts a couple of months prior to the main day function, actors — the major ones are booked in advance for performances, new kids on the block are booked sometimes as close to three days before an event, often when a major star drops out. 

Award shows are designed as TV spectacles — packaged content for sale to the best bidder, viewers at home are eager (it is assumed) to catch the stars in candid expressions — joy, impromptu speeches (they are not) and unintended giveaways of chemistry (a look here, enthusiastic clapping to a particular speech or performance… you get what I mean). We know this already, but most stars perform at these functions if they are going to win.

Frantic calls are made to managers and the jockeying begins; this is not to say a deserving performance doesn’t win an award or gets shafted because of this negotiation, but rather that the award tilts in favour of a more stage ready star with greater audience appeal when it’s a close call. But some award shows have found a way around this as well, holding on to some semblance of authenticity by dividing the awards into critics and popular. The industry response to either is nonchalance — as one old-timer tells me, “You have to make everyone happy”. But the industry is not only made up of the winners on awards night, there are also the wannabes, those waiting in the wings — for their moment in the spotlight. Award season is that moment, a stylist to an emerging starlet struts about in confidence — listing out all the dates he has been booked for because of his muse. 

Her calendar is packed for awards month — a performance here (lot of work), only a red carpet appearance (relatively less effort); but no nomination or win. “Isn’t that what award nights are about?”, the uninitiated will wonder when listening in on the frantic planning and date juggling. The answer? It doesn’t matter really. Showbiz is about being seen and as long as you’re part of the moment, no reason is too big or too small and an award is incidental. 

A director-friend who once shot at the famed Kodak theater where the Oscars are held tells me that the show is planned to perfection and that the seating is fixed by name to avoid awkward moments and ruffled egos. And it was not unusual to find a major star seated in the third or fourth row if they are not in the race in the given year. However, here, it’s very different. And this for me is a particularly interesting aspect of awards show nights. My experience lies mostly in the big ticket conclave or the book launch, where heavyweights saunter over to the front row with a sense of entitlement, even if they are late. 

Bollywood doesn’t come with that entitlement. Let me rephrase that, in Bollywood most people in the audience believe they should be in the front row. So if you have ever wondered about those crowd shots that reveal clumsy seating plans, with visible gaps — it’s because an affronted actor has objected to a chair being placed in front on them. But anyway, unlike Delhi, where the haves and have nots play voluntary musical chairs depending on which way the wind is blowing, in film land, ‘your time has passed’ is not a message everyone receives. But here is the conflict, that your time has passed is something everyone else is acutely aware of even if you are not. 

So the lifetime achievement award winner will have started out in row 2… and as the night progresses, been shifted back to row four or five as additional chairs are added in the front to accommodate the tardier, but relevant stars. And whilst the attendees will stand in respect when the lifetime achievement winner will receive the award on stage, once the camera has shifted and the recipient makes the long walk back to seat number X in row 6 (since another row has been added whilst they were on stage owing to the late appearance of a hit movie star and his/her entourage), the others who till now were part of the standing ovation — will avoid eye contact, in case they are relieved of their chairs.

Showbiz is after all about being at the right place at the right time and in the perfect camera frame. In Bollywood, most people in the audience believe they should be in the front row. Jockeying for trophies, frantic planning and the mania leading to Some organisers have found a way around to ‘keep everyone happy’ by dividing the awards into critics and popular choice. Mostly, stars perform at these functions if they are going to win.

Straight from the Oscars

1. The first Academy Awards ceremony took place at Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on May 16, 1929.

2. The youngest person to receive an Oscar (an honorary one) was Shirley Temple at the age of five in 1934. Art director Robert F. Boyle became the oldest winner when he was given an honorary Academy Award at the age of 98 in 2007.

3. In 1934, Will Rogers opened the Best Film envelope and said: “Come up and get it, Frank!” Director Frank Capra, nominated for Lady For A Day, jumped out of his seat. He then realised the winner was Frank Lloyd for Cavalcade. Angry, Capra vowed to never attend the Oscars again. The vow evaporated next year, when he won for It Happened One Night.

4. A man named Robert Opal streaked at the 1973 ceremony, disrupting the show.

5. Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997) have won the maximum of 11 Oscars each.

6. The longest acceptance speech was given by Greer Garson, while accepting her Best Actress trophy for Mrs Miniver (1942). The speech lasted for about six minutes.

7. Maggie Smith won an Oscar for playing an Oscar loser in California Suite (1978).

8. Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole were nominated for Oscars seven times in their lifetime, but never won.

9. Walt Disney won 26 Oscars in his life in various categories. He was nominated 64 times.

10. The first non-Hollywood feature to lift the Best Film trophy was Hamlet (1948), produced in England.

11. During World War II, the Academy handed out plaster statuettes to winners. After the war, winners exchanged the plaster statuettes for golden ones.

12. The Oscar trophy is 13-and-half inches tall and weighs 3.8 kg. It is thus called because Margaret Herrick, a librarian at the Academy, on seeing the statuette, reportedly commented that it looked like her Uncle Oscar.

In-home trivia

1. In India, the National Film Awards continue to be considered the most prestigious recognition in cinema despite a flurry of more glamorous awards ceremonies mushrooming over the years. The National Awards were established in 1954. Since 1973, the awards have been tied to films screened at the annual International Film Festival of India.

2. In 1969, Devika Rani  was the first recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour given for cinematic efforts in India. Phalke, who made India's first full-length feature film Raja Harishchandra in 1913, is widely regarded Father of Indian cinema.

3. Aussie pace ace Brett Lee at the Singapore edition of the event in 2004 and iconic Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara at the Colombo ceremony in 2010 have been notable cricketers at IIFA.

4. Amitabh Bachchan became the first Bollywood star to be honoured with a wax statue at Madam Tussauds, during the inaugural International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards ceremony, held in London in 2000.

5. At the 2007 IIFA in Yorkshire Amitabh Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Yash Chopra and politician Praful Patel were bestowed honorary doctorates.

6. The Dubai IIFA ceremony was declared Best International Global Event for South Asia in 2006.

7. Filmfare Awards are the oldest among popular awards functions in India. The awards were initially named Clare Awards after the Times Of India film critic Clare Mendonca.

8. The trophy for Zee Cine Awards is said to be crafted out of 24 carat gold and costing around Rs. 1.3 lakh.