Oscar ‘namaste’ by Pi’s Lee

Feb 26, 2013 |

Ben Affleck’s Iran hostage drama Argo rode to victory, taking home the Oscar for best picture, the highest honour at the 85th Academy Awards, while Life of Pi’s Ang Lee pulled off a surprise best director win over Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) for his captivating drama based on Yann Martel’s novel set partly in India, in Puducherry and Munnar.

And in an unprecedented appearance live from the White House via video link, US first lady Michelle Obama helped actor Jack Nicholson present the final prize. Ms Obama, incidentally, had an Indian touch in her surprise Oscar appearance: she wore a strapless silver creation by Mumbai-born Indian-American designer Naeem Khan.
Said 40-year-old Affleck: “I want to acknowledge the other great films that have as much right to be up here as we do, and many of them who did not even get nominated this year.” Argo, played out in the backdrop of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, it spins the real account of a joint Hollywood-CIA mission to rescue six US diplomats from Tehran while posing as a fake movie crew.
Taiwan’s Lee upset frontrunner Spielberg to win his second best director prize for the visually stunning 3D survival tale of an shipwrecked Indian boy lost in the ocean with a Bengal tiger. “Thank you, movie god. Everybody who worked with me on Life of Pi. I want to thank you for believing in this story and share this incredible journey with me... Wonderful cast. Suraj, where are you? You’re a miracle... Thank you, Xie xie, namaste,” said Lee.

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