'The Revenant' bags top honours, 'Mad Max...' shines at Oscars

Los Angeles, Feb 29 (IANS) "The Revenant" had a golden night by taking home the top honours, including a Best Actor gong for Leonardo DiCaprio and Best Director for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, at the 88th Academy Awards. British filmmaker of Indian origin Asif Kapadia won the golden statuette for "Amy", India's Reliance Entertainment-backed "Bridge Of Spies" won one award and Indian actress Priyanka Chopra took to the stage as a presenter.

"Spotlight" was named the Best Film at the glitzy Sunday night gala, where "Mad Max: Fury Road" dominated the technical categories.

DiCaprio, who had been nominated for the golden statuette four times for his acting earlier, finally broke the jinx this time, and took home his first Academy Award in the Best Actor category for his power-packed performance in "The Revenant". It was also a first for Brie Larson when she won an Oscar in the Best Actress category for her portrayal of a kidnapped girl imprisoned by a psychopath in "Room".

George Miller's directorial "Mad Max: Fury Road" won six trophies -- Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup and Hair Styling, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design categories.

The Supporting Actor category saw English actor Mark Rylance defeating Sylvester Stallone to win the Academy Award for Steven Spielberg's cold war drama "Bridge of Spies", backed by Indian businessman Anil Ambani-led Reliance Entertainment; and Swedish actress Alicia Vikander won in the same category for women, for her role in "The Danish Girl".

The awards ceremony, held at the Dolby Theatre here, was hosted by actor-comedian Chris Rock who tackled the 'lack of diversity' and #OscarsSoWhite controversy, in a light-hearted manner.

For India, while Marathi film "Court", the country's official entry for Best Foreign Language Film, did not make it to the final nomination list this year, there were proud moments for the country in abundance.

Priyanka Chopra looked stunning in an elegant gown, a creation by Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad. Besides flaunting a perfect red carpet appearance, she exuded confidence as she presented the Oscar in the Best Film Editing category to "Mad Max: Fury Road" along with Hollywood star Liev Schreiber.

Also presenting an award at the event was British actor of Indian origin Dev Patel, while London-based filmmaker of Indian origin Asif Kapadia bagged the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for "Amy", based on the life of late singer Amy Winehouse.

However, Indian-American Pixar artist Sanjay Patel's animated short "Sanjay's Super Team", which tells the story of an immigrant community and "a family of colour", lost the Oscar to Chilean film "Bear Story".

Also, Indian-born British actor Saeed Jaffrey was remembered in the annual "In Memoriam" montage, along with Alan Rickman, David Bowie and Leonard Nimoy.

For Pakistan, it was time for celebrations as filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won the Oscar for Best Documentary-Short Subject for her project based on honour killing titled "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness". It is her second Oscar win.

The night of the glitz and glamour would have been incomplete without soulful music. Sam Smith performed Oscar winning song "Writing's on the Wall" from the James Bond movie "Spectre", The Weeknd getting on the stage to perform Oscar nominated song "Earned it" from "Fifty Shades of Grey" and Lady Gaga calling for an end to rape culture with a rendition of her "Till it happens to you".

Other star presenters at the Oscars included Julianne Moore, Reese Witherspoon, Henry Cavill, Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett.