 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Colin Firth's Indian connection
1. Colin Firth, the front-runner for this year's Best Actor Oscar prize, has a strong Indian connection. What is it?
a. Like another fine Englishman named Colin (the cricketer Colin Cowdrey), he was born in Bangalore
b. His parents were raised in India where his grandparents worked for many years
c.Like Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson) he is married to an Indian
The correct answer: His parents were raised in India where his grandparents worked for many years.
Over to Colin in a recent interview: 'My mother's parents were both Congregationalist ministers... My father's father in the end was an Anglican minister... All three of them I should say, belonged to the Church of South India for a while.'
'My maternal grandfather rebelled against the Church of South India over certain things. He became a doctor, in fact. He went out there as a church missionary (this is my maternal grandfather) and at the age of 38 he decided that he would be of better use in that country as a doctor, so he decided to get medical training.'
'The only country in the world that would train a man of that age was the United States. So he took his family to the United States and went through medical school in Iowa for seven years, and then went back to India and set up practice there in osteopathic medicine.'
'My mother's interest has always been very much in alternative comparative religions. And the subject of her fairly recent Ph D was death and bereavement in a Gujarati community in Southampton for which she learned Hindi.'
Two years after he graduated from Cambridge, in 1930, Cyril Bruce Firth, Colin's paternal grandfather, headed for India and worked in Bellary -- now better known as the home of Karnataka's Reddy brothers and the iron ore mines -- for 19 years.
Reverend C B Firth -- who wrote a book on Church history in India -- was also involved in the establishment of the Church of South India, fluent in Kannada, and worked as prinicipal of of the Union Kanarese Seminary in Tumkur in the former Mysore state before he returned to England.
Dr Montague John Rolles and his wife Helen Jean, Colin's maternal grandparents, worked in Kamalapuram in Kadapa district -- the political bastion of Andhra Pradesh's late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy -- for many years. YSR was a Protestant and we wonder if the Jolles and his parents knew each other.
When King George VI -- who his grandson played most memorably in The King's Speech, died in 1952, Dr Jolles was asked by his school to pay tribute. He noted: 'Standards of greatness vary, and it is unlikely that historians will remember George VI as great, as we understand that term. Yet in an indefinable sense, he had the greatness of simplicity, and that is why he was greatly loved by all who knew him.'
Of course, Colin also acted in The Last Legion with both Ben Kingsley and Aishwarya Rai, a film set in the Roman era that didn't do well.
Over to Colin in a recent interview: 'My mother's parents were both Congregationalist ministers... My father's father in the end was an Anglican minister... All three of them I should say, belonged to the Church of South India for a while.'
'My maternal grandfather rebelled against the Church of South India over certain things. He became a doctor, in fact. He went out there as a church missionary (this is my maternal grandfather) and at the age of 38 he decided that he would be of better use in that country as a doctor, so he decided to get medical training.'
'The only country in the world that would train a man of that age was the United States. So he took his family to the United States and went through medical school in Iowa for seven years, and then went back to India and set up practice there in osteopathic medicine.'
'My mother's interest has always been very much in alternative comparative religions. And the subject of her fairly recent Ph D was death and bereavement in a Gujarati community in Southampton for which she learned Hindi.'
Two years after he graduated from Cambridge, in 1930, Cyril Bruce Firth, Colin's paternal grandfather, headed for India and worked in Bellary -- now better known as the home of Karnataka's Reddy brothers and the iron ore mines -- for 19 years.
Reverend C B Firth -- who wrote a book on Church history in India -- was also involved in the establishment of the Church of South India, fluent in Kannada, and worked as prinicipal of of the Union Kanarese Seminary in Tumkur in the former Mysore state before he returned to England.
Dr Montague John Rolles and his wife Helen Jean, Colin's maternal grandparents, worked in Kamalapuram in Kadapa district -- the political bastion of Andhra Pradesh's late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy -- for many years. YSR was a Protestant and we wonder if the Jolles and his parents knew each other.
When King George VI -- who his grandson played most memorably in The King's Speech, died in 1952, Dr Jolles was asked by his school to pay tribute. He noted: 'Standards of greatness vary, and it is unlikely that historians will remember George VI as great, as we understand that term. Yet in an indefinable sense, he had the greatness of simplicity, and that is why he was greatly loved by all who knew him.'
Of course, Colin also acted in The Last Legion with both Ben Kingsley and Aishwarya Rai, a film set in the Roman era that didn't do well.
Today's Oscar Challenge!
2. Adrien Brody, Marlee Matlin, Tatum O'Neal, Timothy Hutton, Norman Taurog are all Oscar winners. They share one distinctive fact. What?
a. They all won Oscars the same year
b. They were nominated for two Oscars the same year
c. They are the youngest in their category to ever win an Oscar.
The correct answer: They are the youngest in their category to ever win an Oscar.
Brody, at 29, was the youngest man to win the Best Actor Oscar, for Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002).
Matlin, at 21, was the youngest woman to win the Best Actress Oscar, for Children of a Lesser God (1986). Matlin, who cannot hear, stunned audiences by delivering her speech in sign language.
O'Neal, at 10, was the youngest to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, for Paper Moon (1973), which was directed by Peter Bogdanovich and also starred her pa, Ryan O'Neal.
Hutton, at 20, was the youngest to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, for Ordinary People (1980), actor Robert Redford's directorial debut.
At 32, Taurog, was the youngest to win the Best Director Oscar for Skippy, way back in 1931.
They were the winners. Meet the youngest nominees:
Youngest Best Actor nominee: 9-year-old Jackie Cooper, Skippy. He is the only under 19 year old to be nominated in this category.
Youngest Best Actress nominee: 12-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes, Whale Rider (2003). She is the only teenager to be nominated in this category.
Youngest Best Supporting Actor nominee: 8-year-old Justin Henry, Kramer vs. Kramer (1979). He is the only under 10 year old to be nominated in this category.
Youngest Best Supporting Actress nominees: 10-year-old Mary Badham, Quinn Cummings and Abigail Bresling for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), The Goodbye Girl (1977) and Little Miss Sunshine (2006), respectively.
Youngest Best Director nominee: 24-year-old John Singleton, Boyz n the Hood (1991).
Finally, Shirley Temple received a special Oscar when she was only 6 years old.
Brody, at 29, was the youngest man to win the Best Actor Oscar, for Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002).
Matlin, at 21, was the youngest woman to win the Best Actress Oscar, for Children of a Lesser God (1986). Matlin, who cannot hear, stunned audiences by delivering her speech in sign language.
O'Neal, at 10, was the youngest to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, for Paper Moon (1973), which was directed by Peter Bogdanovich and also starred her pa, Ryan O'Neal.
Hutton, at 20, was the youngest to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, for Ordinary People (1980), actor Robert Redford's directorial debut.
At 32, Taurog, was the youngest to win the Best Director Oscar for Skippy, way back in 1931.
They were the winners. Meet the youngest nominees:
Youngest Best Actor nominee: 9-year-old Jackie Cooper, Skippy. He is the only under 19 year old to be nominated in this category.
Youngest Best Actress nominee: 12-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes, Whale Rider (2003). She is the only teenager to be nominated in this category.
Youngest Best Supporting Actor nominee: 8-year-old Justin Henry, Kramer vs. Kramer (1979). He is the only under 10 year old to be nominated in this category.
Youngest Best Supporting Actress nominees: 10-year-old Mary Badham, Quinn Cummings and Abigail Bresling for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), The Goodbye Girl (1977) and Little Miss Sunshine (2006), respectively.
Youngest Best Director nominee: 24-year-old John Singleton, Boyz n the Hood (1991).
Finally, Shirley Temple received a special Oscar when she was only 6 years old.
Today's Oscar Challenge!
3. The winner of the Best Supporting Actor (1981), the winner of the Best Director (1982), the winner of the Best Actor (1996), the winner of the Best Supporting Actress (2004), the winner of the Best Supporting Actor (2008) have one man in common. Who?
a. Steven Spielberg
b. Shekhar Kapur
c. Martin Scorsese
The correct answer: Shekhar Kapur.
But first, let us identify the film folk above: John Gielgud is the actor (he won for Arthur); Richard Attenborough is the director (Gandhi); Geoffrey Rush is the actor (Shine); Cate Blanchett is the actress (The Aviator), and Heath Ledger the actor (The Dark Knight).
Gielgud (played The Pope), Attenborough (Sir William Cecil), Rush (Sir Frank Walsingham) and Blanchett (Elizabeth), all featured in Shekhar's first Elizabeth movie.
Geoffrey and Shekhar persuaded Cate to return for the second Elizabeth movie, which featured both the Australian actors in the same roles.
Buoyed by the first Elizabeth's success, Hollywood entrusted The Four Feathers to Shekhar. Ledger, another Aussie, played the hero twisted by self doubt in Feathers, which didn't do well at the box office.
Heath, who became a Shekhar buddy like Geoff, is said to have spoken to the Indian director shortly before his untimely death three years ago.
Feathers featured another Oscar nominated actor, Djimon Hounsou (In America/Blood Diamond).
Finally, did you know that the ever youthful Shekhar (he has super genes; his mama is Dev Anand!) will be 66 this December 9.
But first, let us identify the film folk above: John Gielgud is the actor (he won for Arthur); Richard Attenborough is the director (Gandhi); Geoffrey Rush is the actor (Shine); Cate Blanchett is the actress (The Aviator), and Heath Ledger the actor (The Dark Knight).
Gielgud (played The Pope), Attenborough (Sir William Cecil), Rush (Sir Frank Walsingham) and Blanchett (Elizabeth), all featured in Shekhar's first Elizabeth movie.
Geoffrey and Shekhar persuaded Cate to return for the second Elizabeth movie, which featured both the Australian actors in the same roles.
Buoyed by the first Elizabeth's success, Hollywood entrusted The Four Feathers to Shekhar. Ledger, another Aussie, played the hero twisted by self doubt in Feathers, which didn't do well at the box office.
Heath, who became a Shekhar buddy like Geoff, is said to have spoken to the Indian director shortly before his untimely death three years ago.
Feathers featured another Oscar nominated actor, Djimon Hounsou (In America/Blood Diamond).
Finally, did you know that the ever youthful Shekhar (he has super genes; his mama is Dev Anand!) will be 66 this December 9.
Today's Oscar Challenge!
4. Toy Story 3 has been nominated for Best Picture Oscar this year. Name the only two animation films to be nominated for Oscar for Best Picture.
a. Beauty and the Beast and Up
b. Toy Story and WALL-E
c. Ratatouille and Finding Nemo
The correct answer: Beauty and the Beast and Up.
Beauty was the first animated film nominated for Best Picture in 1991; Up joined it in 2009 when the Academy expanded the number of films nominated for Best Picture to 10 from the original five.
Beauty was not nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar since the category only came into being in 2001.
That is why the first two Toy Story films did not win a Best Animated Feature Oscar since they were made in 1995 and 1999 respectively.
The Academy recognised that they were classics by presenting its creator John Lasseter with a Special Achievement Award in 1995 for 'his inspired leadership of the Pixar Toy Story team, resulting in the first feature-length computer-animated film.'
Meet the winners of the Oscar for Best Animated Feature these last ten years: Shrek won the first prize in 2001; the Japanese Spirited Away won in 2002; not surprisingly Finding Nemo won in 2003; The Incredibles in 2004; Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2005; Happy Feet in 2006, Ratatouille in 2007; Wall-E in 2008 and Up in 2009.
Waltz with Bashir, the Israeli film, is the only animated film to be nominated in the Best Foreign Language category. It didn't pick up a nom in the Best Animated Feature though!
The rules for the Best Animated Feature Oscar are a bit complex. At least eight animated films have to be released in a year for the Best Animated Feature Oscar to be presented that year.
If there are 16 or more films in the fray, the Academy jury has five films to choose from; if there are less than 16 animated films in contention, the field is trimmed to three.
Ironically, the man who has won more Oscars than any other member of our race is Walt Disney -- whose name is synonymous with animation -- with 22 Oscars and four honorary Oscars.
Uncle Walt even won four Oscars one year, another record.
Beauty was the first animated film nominated for Best Picture in 1991; Up joined it in 2009 when the Academy expanded the number of films nominated for Best Picture to 10 from the original five.
Beauty was not nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar since the category only came into being in 2001.
That is why the first two Toy Story films did not win a Best Animated Feature Oscar since they were made in 1995 and 1999 respectively.
The Academy recognised that they were classics by presenting its creator John Lasseter with a Special Achievement Award in 1995 for 'his inspired leadership of the Pixar Toy Story team, resulting in the first feature-length computer-animated film.'
Meet the winners of the Oscar for Best Animated Feature these last ten years: Shrek won the first prize in 2001; the Japanese Spirited Away won in 2002; not surprisingly Finding Nemo won in 2003; The Incredibles in 2004; Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2005; Happy Feet in 2006, Ratatouille in 2007; Wall-E in 2008 and Up in 2009.
Waltz with Bashir, the Israeli film, is the only animated film to be nominated in the Best Foreign Language category. It didn't pick up a nom in the Best Animated Feature though!
The rules for the Best Animated Feature Oscar are a bit complex. At least eight animated films have to be released in a year for the Best Animated Feature Oscar to be presented that year.
If there are 16 or more films in the fray, the Academy jury has five films to choose from; if there are less than 16 animated films in contention, the field is trimmed to three.
Ironically, the man who has won more Oscars than any other member of our race is Walt Disney -- whose name is synonymous with animation -- with 22 Oscars and four honorary Oscars.
Uncle Walt even won four Oscars one year, another record.
Today's Oscar Challenge!
5. Tariq Anwar, who has been nominated for Best Editing this year for The King's Speech, has something in common with the only Oscar Al Pacino has won. What?
a) Anwar and Pacino worked together on The Scent of A Woman
b) Anwar has edited most of Pacino's recent films
c) Anwar's daughter worked in The Scent of A Woman
The correct answer: Anwar's daughter worked in The Scent of A Woman.
Gabrielle Anwar was the woman who dances the tango with the blind Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in that most memorable scene from The Scent of A Woman.
We know Gabrielle better these days for her work on the television thriller, Burn Notice, where she plays Fiona Glenanne.
Her dad Tariq, who was born in Lucknow in 1945, but was raised in England, has been nominated for an Oscar before -- for Sam Mendes's American Beauty.
That makes two Indian-born filmfolk in this year's Oscars race -- the other being A R Rahman for his score in 127 Hours.
He has also edited films like The Madness of King George and Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd. He has won a BAFTA twice -- for Oppenheimer and American Beauty.
Tariq's dad Rafiq Anwar made a couple of films in Pakistan in the early 1950s before migrating to England where he played parts with Indian names till he died in 1977.
Pacino has been nominated eight times for an Oscar -- The Godfather (Best Supporting Actor; 1972); Serpico (Best Actor; 1973), The Godfather Part II (Best Actor; 1974); Dog Day Afternoon (Best Actor; 1975); ... And Justice for All (Best Actor; 1979); Dick Tracy (Best Supporting Actor; 1990); Glengarry Glen Ross (Best Supporting Actor; 1992).
The 1992 win for The Scent of A Woman remains his only triumph.
Gabrielle Anwar was the woman who dances the tango with the blind Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in that most memorable scene from The Scent of A Woman.
We know Gabrielle better these days for her work on the television thriller, Burn Notice, where she plays Fiona Glenanne.
Her dad Tariq, who was born in Lucknow in 1945, but was raised in England, has been nominated for an Oscar before -- for Sam Mendes's American Beauty.
That makes two Indian-born filmfolk in this year's Oscars race -- the other being A R Rahman for his score in 127 Hours.
He has also edited films like The Madness of King George and Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd. He has won a BAFTA twice -- for Oppenheimer and American Beauty.
Tariq's dad Rafiq Anwar made a couple of films in Pakistan in the early 1950s before migrating to England where he played parts with Indian names till he died in 1977.
Pacino has been nominated eight times for an Oscar -- The Godfather (Best Supporting Actor; 1972); Serpico (Best Actor; 1973), The Godfather Part II (Best Actor; 1974); Dog Day Afternoon (Best Actor; 1975); ... And Justice for All (Best Actor; 1979); Dick Tracy (Best Supporting Actor; 1990); Glengarry Glen Ross (Best Supporting Actor; 1992).
The 1992 win for The Scent of A Woman remains his only triumph.