Los Angeles: India had a brief, starry moment at the Oscar stage when Priyanka Chopra Jonas presented the award for best international feature film alongside Javier Bardem who grabbed attention with his declaration “No to war, free Palestine”.
But those seeking more of India at the 98th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre here Sunday were in for a disappointment. Hindi film legend Dharmendra was conspicuously absent from the In Memoriam segment and Indian American filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir didn’t win either of her two nominations. “The Devil Is Busy” was nominated in the best documentary short category and “The Perfect Neighbour” in the best documentary feature segment.
And then there was Isha Ambani, daughter of industrialist Mukesh Ambani attended Hollywood’s biggest night with her husband Anand Piramal. While she wore a vintage strapless column gown from Valentino’s Fall 2006 couture collection, featuring floral embroidery in pastel shades of lilac, pink, blue and green, Piramal opted for a Dolce and Gabbana suit.
For Chopra Jonas, it was a return to the Oscars stage after a decade. Dressed in a white feathered Dior gown, the 43-year-old actor said global stories “remind us that international is never truly far away… because every story sends a ripple far beyond where it begins,” she said.
Her on stage moment with Bardem, who opened with the words “No to war, free Palestine” while wearing a patch bearing the slogan “No a la Guerra”, the same anti-war slogan he sported more than two decades ago to protest the Iraq war in 2003, made sure she was splashed across social media platforms and elsewhere.
The winner in the category was “Sentimental Value”, directed by Norway’s Joachim Trier.
And Dharmendra, India’s loved Hindi movie star who passed away in November 2025 at the age of 89, was not the only one absent from the broadcast’s In Memoriam segment – despite it running 15 minutes longer than in previous years, with special remembrances for Hollywood legends Rob Reiner, Diane Keaton and Robert Redford. Also missing were Brigitte Bardot, James Van Der Beek and Eric Dane.
The Sholay star was, however, included in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ (AMPAS) official online list alongside several other Indian film personalities, including actors Saroja Devi, Manoj Kumar, Jayasree Kabir, Kota Srinivasa Rao and documentary filmmaker S Krishnaswamy.
In Memoriam segments at the Oscars have frequently featured Indian film personalities.
At the 90th Academy Awards in 2018, Shashi Kapoor and Sridevi were honoured in the montage.
In 2021, actors Irrfan Khan and costume designer Bhanu Athaiya, the first Indian to win an Oscar, were also remembered in the segment.
Gandbhir’s “The Devil Is Busy” follows the head of security at a women’s healthcare clinic in Atlanta over a single day amid tightening abortion restrictions. The award in the category went to “All the Empty Rooms”.
Her other film The Perfect Neighbor is a Netflix documentary chronicling the 2023 fatal shooting of Black woman Ajike Owens by her white neighbour Susan Louise Lorincz in Ocala, Florida. The best documentary feature award went to “Mr Nobody Against Putin”.
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