The 94th Academy Awards will be etched in the minds of the South Asians for a long time. For Riiz Ahmed (Pakistani) and Joseph Patel (Indian origin) got to lay their hands on the Academy Awards, the world oldest and most prestigious entertainment awards
More about Riz Ahmed and Joseph Patel. While Riz is a Pakistani settled in Britain, He won the Oscar for the movie The Long Goodbye which won the Oscar in the Short action section. Interestingly, Riz has also co-written the script of the movie, And there is a Indian connection to this, as this movie was produced by another person of Indian origin, Aniel Karia.
Now, coming to Joseph Patel he is a multi-faceted person. He is a producer, writer, director and executive whose origins can be traced back to Baroda in Gujarat.
Full length documentary feature, ‘Summer of Soul’ (or. When the Revolution could not be televised), was co-produced by him and it was awarded, the “Best Documentary Feature” award as well.
Interestingly, another Indian documentary, Writing With Fire, directed by filmmaker duo Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh was also in the race along
There was more of South Asian angle at the Oscars, when Priyanka Chopra organized the pre-Oscar party.
The event, organised for the South Asian Oscar nominees, was co-hosted by Kumail Nanjiani, Mindy Kaling, Bela Bajaria, Shruti Ganguly, Anjula Acharia and Maneesh K Goyal