Oscars 2023 Winners List: The 95th Academy Awards were held on the night of Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA. Organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Oscars 2023 honored films released in 2022. This time, unlike the last two years, there was excitement as to who wins what at the Oscars.
A lot of Indians who normally like to watch the rerun of the Oscar Awards ceremony, woke up early on the morning of Monday, March 13 to catch up on the #Oscars2023 live via social media. The reason is that Indians were sure of at least one Academy Award this year, possibly for RRR. And that actually happened! India took home not one but two Oscar Awards in 2023 – the first being for the heartwarming Netflix documentary The Elephant Whisperers, directed by Kartiki Gonsalves and backed by Guneet Monga, and the second being the celebrated dance number Naatu Naatu from the 2022 blockbuster feature film RRR, directed by SS Rajamouli. Shaunak Sen’s film All That Breathes, however, did not win in the Best Documentary Feature category. The two wins for India are record-breaking firsts.
The science-fiction film Everything Everywhere All at Once did a sweep at the Oscars, with seven wins, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing, and Best Original Screenplay.
What was heartening to see was that alongside Lady Gaga and Rihanna’s performance on the Oscars stage, Naatu Naatu was performed by a dance troupe, and American actress-dancer Lauren Gottlieb, even as the original singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava sang it live! The Naatu Naatu segment was introduced by Indian diva Deepika Padukone, who looked confident and beautiful in her black outfit.
Here is the full list of winners at the 95th Academy Awards aka the Oscar Awards 2023:
Best Picture: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Actor: Brendan Fraser (The Whale)
Best Supporting Actress: Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Director: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Animated Feature Film: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” – Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley
Best Cinematography: All Quiet on the Western Front – James Friend
Best Costume Design: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Ruth Carter
Best Original Screenplay: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Animated Short: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Best Live Action Short: An Irish Goodbye
Best Animated Feature: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Best Documentary Feature: Navalny
Best Documentary Short: The Elephant Whisperers
Best International Feature: All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany)
Best Production Design: All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Visual Effects: Avatar: The Way of Water.
The RRR movie team wrote on Twitter after their win, “We’re blessed that #RRRMovie is the first feature film to bring INDIA’s first ever #Oscar in the Best Song Category with #NaatuNaatu! No words can describe this surreal moment. Dedicating this to all our amazing fans across the world. THANK YOU!! JAI HIND!”
Guneet Monga reacted after The Elephant Whisperers won an Oscar, saying on social media, “My heart is full of love and excitement, most of it imbibed from everyone in India cheering for our win. So grateful to the visionary filmmaker @EarthSpectrum and to @netflix who gave us the biggest stage in the world. This is for my beautiful, diverse country, India. #Oscar .”
She also posted a longer video message from the venue, with the Oscar trophy in hand while she did her thank yous.
Congratulations to the winners at the 95th Oscar Awards, and especially to the Indian winners and also nominees.
