As the 88th Academy Awards will take place on February 28, we take a look at an underlying trend being observed about the Oscar crop — The Danish Girl, Amy, Sicario, Joy, Bridge of Spies and Revenant— are centered around people and real-life inspired incidents, signifying that biopics are in vogue.
Chaitanya KM, a filmmaker opines, “Across the world, we see an increasing trend towards real life stories in cinema. It is not surprising then that among the Oscar nominees this time, you have many biographical dramas like Steve Jobs, Joy and Trumbo.
There are two main reasons for this trend. A lot of people who would have been writers of literature are now looking at writing for cinema, because it has a wider reach and market. Thus, many subjects that would have made for good books are directly being written for the screen. Secondly, we live in an age of rapid progress in science and economy. We look for heroes from real life now. Even in India, films like Neerja, Airlift, or Bhaag Milka Bhaag, did well.”
Citing a similar ideology, Pranit Sahni, a student from VIT and a short filmmaker feels it’s got to do with a general perception. “For long, biopics have been doing really well. And it’s probably because people relate more to real-life incidents. Filmmakers and producers are banking on the fact that scripts and plots around people find more takers. If you notice, movies that made it to the Oscars have always been films with a streak of realism. It’s designed that way,” he says.
Hadi Nishad, Bengaluru-based movie critic believes it’s got to do with preference.“I’ve observed that most movies that are vying for the Best Picture category or any other for that matter at the Oscars’ 16 are mostly adaptations of books or from the real life of an individual. The connect with biopic, people-centric films is a lot more than fiction. Hence, they seem a better bet to a fictional run-of-the-mill plot.”
