Performing Rites
A new year, and a brand new award season. Tune in now!

By Sally H
Few things on the telly are as much fun as awards nights. Superstars and super villains, rockers and rappers, artists and hacks - all converge on these star-studded, red-carpeted nights of glamour! Gossip, drama, fashion faux pas, and more: Here’s your guide to the coming awards season.

CLOSE CALL
Nine thousand glasses of Grand Vintage 2002 Moet & Chandon champagne were consumed. But it’s not all bubbly swilling (Charlie Sheen) and goddess-like glamour (cut to Angelina Jolie walking the red carpet, which happens to be 27,000 square feet), tongue-in-cheek hilarity (Ricky Gervais shredding every smug superstar to pieces), old unknowns shuffling around (members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association), and lip-smacking food: The HFPA also donated $3,50,000 to a foundation that preserves old movies - all this and more made the 69th Golden Globes. But the rudest statement, only because it was unexpected, came from Meryl Streep who won her 7th Golden Globe for her role as Margaret Thatcher in Iron Lady, “I gotta thank everybody in England that let me come and trample over their history.” Those who stole the show were French actor Jean Dujardin who won “Best Performance for an actor in a Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical” for his role in silent movie The Artist, Jodie Foster for being a sport, Uggie the dog, Peter Dinklage, and Morgan Freeman (winner of the Cecil B DeMille Award).

Programme: Held on 16 January 2012

BEST CINEMATIC RECOGNITION?
Bagging an Academy Award, or an ‘Oscar’, is the definitive achievement of the cinematic world. The ultimate benchmark, and sometimes also a fork in the road of the winner - a verified observation unless you are Hilary Swank or Meryl Streep.

Conferred by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), it’s a tradition as awaited and watched as the World Series, FIFA World Cup, and the Olympics. From its modest roots in 1929, where the first ever Oscars were handed out at the Hotel Roosevelt, the rite moved on and is now held ceremoniously at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. All in all, it hands out 24 awards in categories as varied as sound mixing to makeup.

India has not done well in the Oscars considering our tradition and the number of movies we churn out every year. Quality vs. quantity? Some of our winners are Bhanu Athaiya with John Mollo for Best Costume Design for Gandhi (1982); Satyajit Ray who won an honorary Academy Award in 1991; Russell Pookutty who took home the Oscar for Best Sound Mixing (with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke) for Slumdog Millionaire (2008), AR Rahman; who won Best Score and Best Original Song (music) for Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and Gulzar; who won Best Song (lyrics) again for Slumdog Millionaire (2008).

This year’s nominees list hasn’t been unveiled yet. Since it was the swansong of the Harry Potter series, industry insiders say some nominations might come its way.

Programme: Scheduled for 26 February 2012

NO IDIOT WINS THIS
The Emmys are to television what the Oscars are to movies. Distinguishing the best that television has to offer, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), and the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences combine (IATAS) to make the final call on the deserving.

Further, the Emmy Awards are classified as under Primetime Emmys (Held in mid-September), Daytime Emmys (Held in mid-June), Sports Emmys (During April or May), News and Documentary Emmys (Held in autumn), Technology and Engineering Emmys (For developments and contributions to the technological and engineering aspects of television), Regional Emmys (20 total regional chapters), International Emmys (Held in November), Student Emmys (Suspended due to a shortage of funds since 2009) and Other Emmys (Business and financial reporting, Public Service, The Bob Hope Humanitarian Award and The Governors Award).

LET ME SEE YOUR JAZZ HANDS
A Tony (The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is the highest achievement in live Broadway and is the industry equivalent to the Oscars. Held in NYC, home to Broadway, the Tony Awards were started in 1947 by the American Theatre Wing. Now, along with The Broadway League, the two bodies decide the winners.

The first-ever ceremony was held at the Waldorf Astoria hotel and winners took home a scroll, cigarette lighter, and articles of jewellery (gold compacts and bracelets for women and money clips for the men). Two years later, the tradition of handing out medallions started At present, prizes in 30 categories are handed out; five others have been retired viz., Tony for Best Author, Best Conductor and Musical Director, Tony Award for Best Revival (replaced by separate musical and play awards), Tony Award for Best Stage Technician, Best Special Theatrical Event, and Best Director.

Programme: June

BERRY, BERRY, FUNNY
Children. Unfazed by the societal growing-up pains of learning tact, they make a face, stick their tongue out and blow into the other person’s face when they do not like something, or simply to show disapproval. This act, called ‘Blowing a raspberry’, is the inspiration behind the Golden Raspberry Award, popularly known as the ‘Razzies’.

Instituted by copywriter and publicist John JB Wilson, the ritual was first held in 1981 and precedes the Oscars by a day. So far, only a handful of winners of the Razzie Award for Worst Actress category have turned up. When actress Halle Berry sportingly showed up to collect her Razzie for Catwoman, she became the third-ever person to turn up. Berry famously said, “My mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there’s no way you could be a good winner,” and told her manager to “Read the script the next time.” Wise words. She also swore to not take part in a sequel of the movie.

Another actress - Sandra Bullock - charmed the audience when she turned up to collect hers. Even going on to show a trailer to the audience. The next day, Bullock won the Oscar for her role in The Blind Side, becoming the first-ever actor to win both the Razzie and the Oscar in the same year. In India, we have the Golden Kela Awards. The show must go on.