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Oscars.

Chris Rock had come on stage to introduce the best documentary feature when he made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, being in a sequel to ‘G.I. Jane’– seemingly a reference to her shaved head. Pinkett-Smith has been open about having alopecia, which causes hair loss. Following this, Will strode to the stage and hit Chris and then screamed “Keep my wife’s name out of your f****ng mouth”. Since then, Will has been receiving huge backlash on social media for hitting Chris on national television.

Meanwhile, in the acting category, Will Smith won best actor Oscar for playing Richard Williams, ambitious father and coach of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, in ‘King Richard’. The best actress Oscar went to Jessica Chastain for her role as a televangelist in ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’.

Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi powerhouse ‘Dune,’ on the other hand, dominated the Academy Awards in the technical categories by grabbing six out of eight wins for cinematography, production design, editing, original score, sound, and visual effects. For the unversed, India’s Namit Malhotra is the Chairman and CEO of DNEG, the VFX pro behind Dune.

Moreover, apart from the best picture win, CODA got recognised for best supporting actor honour for Troy Kotsur and a best adapted screenplay honour for Sian Heder. Kotsur also made history, becoming just the second deaf actor to win an Oscar. “This is dedicated to the deaf community, the C.O.D.A. community, and the disabled community,” Kotsur said. “This is our moment.”

The Academy also showed support for the people of Ukraine as Reba McEntire performed her nominated song ‘Somehow You Do,’ introduced by Ukraine native Mila Kunis on stage. “While film is an important avenue for us to express our humanity in times of conflict, the reality is millions of families in Ukraine need food, medical care, clean water, and emergency services,” read a message on a black screen.

On the performance front, Beyonce opened the 2022 Academy Awards from a tennis court in Compton in honour of the birthplace of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, whose upbringing is the subject of King Richard. Billie Eilish delivered a power-packed performance on ‘No Time to Die,’ the title tune for the latest James Bond film, on stage. Eilish and Finneas O’Connell also won the original-song Oscar for the song. It’s the third consecutive Academy Award for music in the long-running spy franchise, following Adele’s win for 2012’s ‘Skyfall’ and Sam Smith’s for ‘Writing’s on the Wall’ from 2015’s ‘Spectre’.

This year, The Power of the Dog led the pack of nominations with an impressive 12 nominations, including a Best Picture nomination. The movie stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst in the lead. Besides The Power of the Dog, Belfast, Don’t Look Up, Drive My Car, Dune, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, and West Side Story were the top contenders of the Oscars 2022 Best Picture Winner.

Indian film Writing With Fire also won a nomination in the Best Documentary Feature category but lost out to Summer of Soul (…or, When The Revolutions Could Not Be Televised).

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