Yesterday, TV producer Vinta Nanda took to her IG handle to slam the Oscar system of nominating movies. She wrote, “Systems are so flawed now. Curators walk away with the Oscar nominations and awards as producers and the struggle of the artists and their producers is completely eclipsed. What kind of a world are we living in?” The post met with a lot of attention, including filmmaker-actor Ananth Mahadevan, who pointed fingers at ‘influential ones’ with ‘connections/networking’.”
Through the post, Vinta was talking about the movie Anuja, that has secured a nomination for Best Live Action Short at the 97th Academy Awards, and is a collaboration between Graves and his wife Suchitra Mattai, a visual artists of South Asian decent. In October 2024, Guneet Monga joined the production team as executive producer, followed by Priyanka Chopra Jonas.Later, talking to News18 Showsha, Vinta said, “The producers of Anuja are featured nowhere near Guneet Monga (Kapoor) and Priyanka Chopra (Jonas). Theirs are the first two names featured in the list of producers. I’m sure Anuja is a brilliant film much like The Elephant Whisperers. But it’s becoming a norm year after year that after a film gets made, well-recognisable names with great network suddenly come and become producers.”
She added, “What they’re actually doing is curating and becoming part and parcel of the profits and business of the film. Technically, they aren’t the producers. They shouldn’t be going up on the stage and collecting those awards. People involved with marketing, taking the film from the producers – after it’s ready – to festivals and lobbying, get credit for the film, which they haven’t even partaken in. They should be making sure that the team that has actually produced the film takes the honour.”
“No offense to them because they’re brilliant in their own right and have done stellar work in their lives. They’re part of a system that’s so flawed. Why should festivals be seeking their approval? They think the media won’t give them coverage if a Priyanka Chopra doesn’t come on top of the product? I’ve put my post questioning this. What’s happening in the bargain is that real writers, directors and producers don’t come in notice,” Vinta added.
