Why Don't Our Films Get An Oscar?

Last week while the Oscars was doing the rounds, everyone seemed to be lauding Joaquin Phoenix, and Brad Pitt for their impeccable performances in Joker and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood respectively. 

But I got a little disgruntled, amid all this. Most of my heavy heartedness came from the mere disappointment that our movies didn't do well. 

Parasite, a film from the nookiest corner of South Korea had won itself the award for the best picture. I feel jovial to talk about it, but somewhere deep down questions arise and an intense void is created. 

India has been faring pretty good since the past few years, and Bollywood has been breaking the so called stereotype. Now we have content that talks about lust (Lust Stories), content that teaches women to speak up, and enhance women empowerment (Mardaani 2, Raazi), content that also talks about the prevailing caste system (Article 15). 

The film (Article 15) helped me gain a lot of new perspectives, as I wasn't too acquainted with it. It's melancholic to note that still today there are families that do not eat with their domestic helps, they refuse to walk from the same lane if someone from lower caste had walked down the path. This is heartrending. 

What's even more brutal is till date in some remote parts of UP and Rajasthan, women are brutally raped and they are subjected to physical abuse, and molestations, because they had spoken up. To challenge the status quo, there are women police officers who really toil hard to end these atrocities. Our films have portrayed it.

Point is, where are we wrong then? Are we not competent enough? Just this morning I was reading a column by a global investor based out of New York. He expressed the same concern, being a Bollywood fan. In his article, he expressed his tryst with Indian cinema, and how much it means to him. 

He made a mention of a survey conducted by BBC, where BBC enlisted a list of top 100 foreign films across 46 countries. The only Indian film that featured there was Satyajit Ray's 'Pather Panchali' that was released in1955. That was the same year that my father was born...

I am 28 years old now, and my father is a senior citizen. Till today, when there is a family discussion, Ray comes up inevitably. We choose to embrace the fact that Ray's creations are a part of us now. Pretty much voluntarily. We bury and drool ourselves into the giant ocean of Ray's creations...

But why don't we get more of it? Why is it that we have to be dependent on one film that has been bearing the load of being the best since the past two generations? Can the near future be brighter than what it is today? 

Can seven years down the line, I can have discussions with my husband and kids, over an Indian film that would literally rock the world?