Dreaming of Oscar

Okay, so they didn’t exactly come home with the ‘man in gold’, but they’ve managed to charm a certain lady. The Margaret Herrick Library, home to a fascinating collection of scripts from across the world, has made a request for the script of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi for its permanent collection. “It is a tribute to the entire team whose passion, hard work and sheer creative input made the film such a refreshing change of pace for jaded audiences,” puts across a Yash Raj spokesperson. While for Rab Ne, the Oscar call came in rather fast, we take a look at other films which have made it to the prestigious library where these are made accessible for research purposes for students, filmmakers, writers and actors.

It was a big deal when Chak De was invited, and an ecstatic Shimit Amin attributed it to his writer, Jaideep Sahni. “It’s Jaideep’s work all the way,” said Shimit. “Lots of scripts make their way into the library, but the fact that ours did and it will be noticed by future makers and students is a great deal,” being the gentleman he is, he gave credit to team work and the unique content they worked on. “For a film to be good, there has to be a great mix of story and reality,” was Jaideep’s pointer, which film critic Taran Adarsh backs up. “Oscar library honours those scripts which are unique, original stories never told before. There has to be something appealing, different and fresh about it, and the fact that many Indian Hindi film scripts have made it proves that our cinema is going global. Our work is being recognized, appreciated and above all, studied for research purposes.”

The Oscar library sure has a fascination for Indian scripts. Milan Luthria was the happiest man when his Taxi No 9211 made it. Ek Ajnabee, Kal Ho Na Ho, PNC’s Shabd, Sarkar Raj, Namastey London, Life In A Metro, Heroes, Munnabhai MBBS, Salaam Namaste, Phir Hera Pheri and the latest, Rock On!!! are all special invitees. So what if they didn’t bag the prize, the very fact that the movie’s screenplay has been invited to be a part of a great library affirms the fact that its immortalized. Lagaan’s team went berserk when they were nominated, the Mann’s were on top of the world when their Waris Shah was picked, so was Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra for Rang De Basanti. “It’s all very exciting, and at the same time translates into a lot of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving cliched terms to people and awards, but yes, this is an international platform, there’ll be loads of eyeballs, and the kind of films sent at this level are supposed to be cinematically rich and substantial. There is a point of view and a story to tell,’’ said Mehra. The show must go on.