The public opinion on Lagaan losing out on the Oscar ‘Lagaan Deserved to Lose’ got an overwhelming response. Given below is a sample of the reaction from the browsers of Indiainfo.com. You are welcome to send your reactions on the reactions to editor@team.indiainfo.com

Brickbats

I have seen both Lagaan and the movies that eventually won the Oscars. I also watched the presentations night. Though I agree with you that the people who come to the Oscars have no sense of dressing, I also would like to comment that your article sounded more like a sour loser wrote it.

When it comes to dressing for Oscars presentation, the ladies are little more under dressed than what the stars are dressed for the Film Fare awards in Bollywood each year (an example would be Sunil Shetty's attire a few years ago). In fact politics and money power is present in the Indian Oscar as well.

It is wrong to point fingers at others when if there is an opportunity for them to do so at you. - Rita Narain

Anyone can write such critics, but think of a standard which will create a foundation for the best activities in film making. Indeed we all need to understand the necessity of that standard. For the losers it is madness and the winners it is foundation - Reaction from UAE

I think either we recognize the Oscar as the pre-eminent award for moviemaking and acting, and embrace all that it stands for, or reject it in its entirety. The author seems to want to have it both ways: bash the culture of Hollywood, criticize the selection process, and at the same time think of the Oscars as something important and worth writing about. She also doesn't seem to know the difference between "Nobel", a name, and "noble", an English word. - Reaction from a staunch Hollywood fan

I am not sure I agree with the analysis. If it were the case, then Denzel or Harry-Barry couldn't have won the Oscar, instead should have gone to big time Lord of The Rings or Beautiful Mind.

Secondly, I am not sure whether your critic has seen all the other international movies to make an objective judgement about which was good or bad. Who knows, the other movies might have been better.

Finally, I did hear that Lagaan producers and directors had camped in USA and had done reasonable amount of marketing and positioning. So, they did go with reasonable amount of marketing.

So, it is easy to say "sour grapes". But, one has to do a full objective analysis. I agree that as in any awards, there is always some politics. But, movies need to be good to even get there. - Shekhar

I doubt Neena has seen LA event really fully well. Seems her job on the Website is only to condemn the Oscar function. Sydney`s speech was memorably great. Another gentleman who received award for something related to humanity was just superb, "I am embarrassed to receive an award for what one should do and be doing... - Reaction from Australia

Neena's article is completely prejudiced and written just not to be a part of the core. It is pretentious to say something as insane and lustrous without understanding the intricasies of how awards are given. It might make one stand up from the rest and public to startle at the write up, but the truth remains - Oscar is the coveted award in this field and continues to be the one.

It is the way the rest of the world looks at America makes her accountable for anything she does. Why is the whole world anxious at who gets what? Why are we interested in "Lagaan" winning the Oscar despite its somewhat expected debacle? Why do sponsors spend millions of Dollars on this event? Why do all women spend hundreds and thousands of Dollars just to get dressed up?

The answer is simple. It is our weakness for America. The whole world wants to watch the show… Oscar was the way hollywood respected and admired each other’s work. The best foreign language film category was added much later. The American jury sitting in Hollywood pick the best one based on their film viewing expertise. If they cannot comprehend the content of the movie it might not make it despite the quality of the movie. That is not their fault. It is the way we have been looking and sensing the importance of this award that makes it more than an award.

Shouldn’t Hollywood have some responsibility when the dimension and magnitude of the ceremony has changed so much in recent years, one might ask. When it has become global rather than just a Hollywood event, shouldn’t they pick their choice with more care giving equal importance to regionality, content and other technical matters rather than only global themes?

It has always been said that India being the world's largest filmmaker has been constantly ignored by Oscars. Should this be little bit more than "white trash"? Well, one would hope so. There are only 70 colored people in the academy out of 5,000 and odd. This might be a great factor in determining who gets what. Two colored people getting the most important award this year tells us a little about academy crossing the line. One should only hope that this continues.

So, all the diamonds, implants, artificial handshakes and tears are part of the game. That is the way world likes to see Hollywood. But none of these could get Oscar for a movie like "A beautiful mind" or for that matter "No Man's land". Instead of blaming Oscars for not recognising "Lagaan" we should probably work on how to get it if we want it. If you think Oscar is not "Lagaan" worthy, it is like telling grapes are sour. If you cannot change the world be a part of it. Don’t enjoy the world and blame it at the same time. It amounts to hypocrisy. - Guruprasad Kaginele

Oscar awards are the greatest…they look at the quality of work of the film and the acting in particular. If Oscars say Lagaan is not worth a look I agree cent percent. All the hullaboo about lobbying, snobbishness is all fake. If they had said that Afro Americans should win one OSCAR once in 40 years, why is Whoopie Mcing the Oscars??

Neena Richards...YOU SHOULD GET BOWLED OUT FOR A DUCK! - Jarnail Singh

I wouldn’t agree with Neena Richards' article ' Lagaan deserved to lose '.

It is quite sad that ' Lagaan', a brilliant movie that appealed to the classes and masses in India did not bag the Best Foreign Film Oscar. Nevertheless, I don't think it is a good idea to immediately start criticizing the process involved and the decision of the members of the jury.

It is an accomplishment that ' Lagaan' was nominated for the best foreign film category and Aamir along with Ashutosh put in a lot of hard work in ensuring that the film got maximum publicity in LA.

One must not judge the dress sense of the attendees based on the few artists who did not dress well. I do not think this is a that big an issue to ostracize the Oscars. Ditto about the presenter - "a lady draped in red with a miniature model of maybe a 'Khaitan' fan on her right wrist! " to quote Neena Richards.

The criticism about the stars delivering their acceptance speech by reading out from a piece of paper is unwarranted. I wonder how many people can stand at a presentation ceremony and deliver a ' little ' speech from memory when there are around a billion people watching live. What's wrong with reading the credits from a piece of paper ? Now, isn't that stretching things just a little too far ?.

Bravado is written all over the article which is totally uncalled-for and the writer displays a provincial outlook on anything that is associated with the United States of America.

We are all aware of the lobbying that generally goes on and the Oscars are no exception. I think we must just watch the Academy Awards ceremony for what it is and restrain ourselves from such callow attitude.

To summarize the article by Neena Richards is just another instance of sour grapes. - Sripriya Subramaniam



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