As you all know, after failing to make it as India’s official entry to Oscars 2023, ‘RRR’ recently kicked off its Oscar campaign in all major categories. The categories namely Best Motion Picture, Best Director (S.S. Rajamouli), Best Actor (Jr. NTR & Ram Charan), and Best Original Song, etc. were the obvious inclusions to be sent for competing in the Oscar nominations race.
However, two categories namely Best Supporting Actor (for Ajay Devgn), and Best Supporting Actress (for Alia Bhatt) are being discussed by some about whether it’s justified to send them in the first place. Considering the short screen times for both these characters in the action extravaganza ‘RRR’.
It is noteworthy that even though the roles played by Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt in S.S Rajamouli’s ‘RRR’ relatively have a smaller screen time, you won’t disagree that their performances created a lasting impact on the audiences. And there is a good reason for that. Both these characters were introduced in the film at crucial junctures where their screen presence proved to be of immense importance for the goings-on. As a result, they elicited an emotionally charged response from the viewers.
And if we look at the past track record of Oscar-nominated films in the history of the prestigious Academy Awards for the ‘Supporting Actor’ and ‘Supporting Actress’ categories, you’ll be surprised by the on-screen times of some of the roles in those films.
For instance, Ciaran Hinds, who was nominated for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ in ‘Belfast’, had a screen time of just under 12 minutes in the film. Furthermore, Sam Elliott, was nominated for the film ‘A Star is Born’ in the 2018 Oscars, has a screen time of just under 9 minutes. And the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ Oscar nominee with the shortest ever screen time (6 minutes) was Ned Beatty for the 1976 film ‘Network’.
Incredible stats, right?
Similarly, for the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ Oscar category, Judi Dench was nominated for ‘Belfast’ and had a screen time of less than 14 minutes. Scarlett Johnson was nominated for the film ‘Jojo Rabbit’ with a screen time of around 15 minutes. And the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ Oscar nominee with the shortest ever screen time (2 minutes 19 seconds) was Hermione Baddeley for the 1959 film ‘Room at the Top’.
Can you believe that?
And interestingly, the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ and ‘Best Supporting Actress’ Oscar ‘winners’ with the shortest ever screen times were Ben Johnson for the film ‘The Last Picture Show’ (9 minutes 54 seconds) and Beatrice Straight for the film ‘Network’ (5 minutes and 2 seconds).
So, if you’re concerned about whether sending the names of Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt for the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ and ‘Best Supporting Actress’ Oscar categories for ‘RRR’ is justified or not, just because they have a smaller screen time, you can have a look at the above-mentioned Oscar nominees and winners with incredibly short screen times.
So, the makers of ‘RRR’ have taken the right decision and are justified regarding sending the names of Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ and ‘Best Supporting Actress’ Oscar categories. Whether they actually get nominated or not, and (touchwood) win, is a different ballgame, obviously.
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