The remembrance segment of the 93rd Academy Awards or Oscars, In Memoriam, included the beloved Irrfan Khan and costume designer Bhanu Athaiya. Like every year, the In Memoriam section paid tributes to filmmakers and artists who departed the world in 2020, and not surprisingly, the list was a long one.
Oscar nominee Angela Bassett gave a speech with the tribute, which was shown in the form of a video clip and was a homage to achievers the world of screen lost over the past year, including actors, writers, directors, and technicians. Other notable deceased personalities who were remembered include Ian Holm, Sean Connery Max von Sydow, Christopher Plummer, Chadwick Boseman and our own Bhanu Athaiya and Irrfan Khan.
Irrfan Khan was an international actor who died after a long battle with cancer on April 29 at the age of 53.
Irrfan’s Hollywood credits include The Namesake, Life Of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire and Jurassic World, in addition to his work in acclaimed movies like Paan Singh Tomar, Maqbool and the BAFTA-nominated The Lunchbox. Bhanu Athaiya was the first Oscar winner from India, taking home the trophy for Best Costume Design for the 1982 film Gandhi. Athaiya, who was 91 when she died last year, worked on over 100 films, including Lagaan, Swades, Chandni and Agneepath.
Cicely Tyson, Cloris Leachman, Yaphet Kotto, Joel Schumacher, Bertrand Tavernier, Jean-Claude Carrière, Olivia de Havilland, Paula Kelly, George Seagal, were among the other notable ones who passed away.
The In Memoriam segment this year ended with two of last year’s most poignant losses – Hollywood great Sean Connery and Chadwick Boseman, who was nominated for Best Actor but lost to Anthony Hopkins.
Rishi Kapoor, who was featured in the tribute section of the BAFTAs, was not included in the Oscars’ In Memoriam and neither was Sushant Singh Rajput.
Anthony Hopkins won Best Actor for his work in The Father over the late Chadwick Boseman and Chloe Zhao made history at the Academy Awards as the first woman of colour to win the Oscar for Best Director for Nomadland, which also won Best Picture. She’s also only the second woman in Oscar history to win the award after The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow.
The 93rd Academy Award, also known as the Oscars, was held from two locations in Los Angeles — Union Station and Dolby Theatre.
