Oscars 2017: The winners and the diversity

Mumbai: The 89th Academy Awards event proved to be thoroughly entertaining and captivating. It was being believed that the nominations for this year’s main categories featured more diverse names than ever before!

The Oscar event in 2016 was marred by the #OscarsSoWhite row and hence, speculations hinted at the diversity in the nominations earlier this year.

Moreover, with Donald Trump as the President of the US now, a number of people from the film fraternity have voiced their political views openly. Host Jimmy Kimmel didn’t refrain from taking jibes at the US President during the awards event and some of the winners too expressed their take on his policies towards immigrants.

Coming back to the diversity part, Viola Davis became the first black actress to earn three Oscar nominations. This year, she bagged the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

Interestingly, Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim actor to win the coveted trophy in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role for ‘Moonlight’ which went on to win the Best Picture award after ‘La La Land’ was incorrectly named the winner.

The other non-white actors who were nominated this year in various categories were - Denzel Washington, Ruth Negga, Mahershala Ali, Dev Patel, Naomie Harris and Octavia Spencer.

To add to the whole lot of surprises, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi's 'The Salesman' bagged the Best Foreign Language Film award. In a statement that was read out at the ceremony, Farhadi said, “I'm sorry I'm not with you tonight. My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations whom have been disrespected by the inhuman law that bans entry of immigrants to the US. Dividing the world into the US and our enemies categories creates fear. A deceitful justification for aggression and war. These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which have themselves been victims of aggression.Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others. An empathy which we need today more than ever.”

Again, a film about Syria`s ‘White Helmets’ -- rescuers who risk their lives to help save civilians caught in the country`s devastating war took home the Oscar for Best Documentary Short.

It was believed that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had mostly nominated White performers but this year’s winners’ list paints a different picture.