Oscars and International Film Awards: List and MCQs
Complete notes on the Oscars and the world's film awards for exams: the Indian winners, the Cannes, Berlin and Venice prizes and the Emmy, Grammy and BAFTA.
By GK24 Editorial Team· Published · 3 min read
Awards questions are set from lists, and no list is asked more often than the one that begins with the Oscars. The paper wants three things from this topic: which body gives an award, which field it belongs to, and which Indian has won it. Learn those three columns and almost every question from this area is answered.
The Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, known everywhere as the Oscars, are given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of the United States. The first ceremony was held in 1929 for films released in 1927 and 1928, and the awards have been given every year since. The golden statuette of a knight standing on a reel of film is about thirteen and a half inches tall, and the nickname Oscar has been used for it for so long that the Academy itself adopted it.
The Indians who have won an Oscar
| Name | Year | Award |
|---|---|---|
| Bhanu Athaiya | 1983 | Best Costume Design for Gandhi, the first Indian to win an Oscar |
| Satyajit Ray | 1992 | Honorary Award for lifetime achievement |
| A. R. Rahman | 2009 | Best Original Score and Best Original Song for Slumdog Millionaire |
| Gulzar | 2009 | Best Original Song, as the lyricist of Jai Ho |
| Resul Pookutty | 2009 | Best Sound Mixing for Slumdog Millionaire |
| M. M. Keeravani and Chandrabose | 2023 | Best Original Song for Naatu Naatu from the film RRR |
| Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga | 2023 | Best Documentary Short Film for The Elephant Whisperers |
Two points from this table are asked as traps. Bhanu Athaiya was the first Indian to win an Oscar, and she won it for costume design in Gandhi, not for acting or direction. Satyajit Ray did not win a competitive Oscar; the Academy gave him an honorary award in 1992, the year of his death, and he was given the Bharat Ratna in the same year. Three Indian films, Mother India of 1957, Salaam Bombay of 1988 and Lagaan of 2001, were nominated in the foreign language category and none of them won.
The film festivals and their prizes
| Festival | Country | Top prize |
|---|---|---|
| Cannes | France | Palme d'Or, the Golden Palm |
| Berlin (Berlinale) | Germany | Golden Bear |
| Venice | Italy | Golden Lion |
India's record at these festivals is older than its record at the Oscars. Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar shared the highest prize at the very first Cannes festival of 1946. Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali was honoured at Cannes in 1956, and its sequel Aparajito won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1957. In 2024 Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine as Light won the Grand Prix at Cannes, the festival's second highest prize.
The other awards that come in the options
Four more names complete the list. The BAFTA awards are given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in the United Kingdom, and they are the British counterpart of the Oscars. The Golden Globe awards, given in the United States, cover both films and television, and they are announced a few weeks before the Oscars. The Emmy awards belong to television alone, as the Oscars belong to cinema. The Grammy awards belong to music, and the sitar player Ravi Shankar was the first Indian to win one, in 1968, for the album West Meets East recorded with the violinist Yehudi Menuhin. Tanvi Shah, who sang in the song Jai Ho, became the first Indian woman to win a Grammy in 2010, the year A. R. Rahman also took two Grammy awards for the same film.
A short way to keep the four apart is to fix the field to each name: Oscar for film, Emmy for television, Grammy for music and Tony for theatre in the United States, with the BAFTA as the British award for film and television together. Questions are also set on the Indian awards for comparison, so remember that the Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest honour in cinema and is given by the Government of India, while the Oscars are the award of a private academy of film professionals in another country.
Exam Point of View
The questions take four shapes. First, the field of an award: the Oscar for cinema, the Emmy for television, the Grammy for music, the Tony for theatre. Second, the firsts: the first Indian to win an Oscar, the first Indian to win a Grammy, the first Indian woman to win one. Third, the pairs of festival and prize: Cannes with the Palme d'Or, Berlin with the Golden Bear, Venice with the Golden Lion. Fourth, name and film pairs: Bhanu Athaiya with Gandhi, Rahman and Pookutty with Slumdog Millionaire, Naatu Naatu with RRR. The traps repeat as well. Satyajit Ray is put in the options for the first Indian Oscar winner, although his award was honorary and came in 1992; the Golden Bear and the Golden Lion are exchanged between Berlin and Venice; and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which is an Indian government honour, is slipped into a list of international awards.
Important Facts
| Body giving the Oscars | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, United States |
|---|---|
| First Academy Awards ceremony | 1929, for films of 1927 and 1928 |
| First Indian Oscar winner | Bhanu Athaiya, 1983, Best Costume Design for Gandhi |
| Honorary Oscar to Satyajit Ray | 1992, for lifetime achievement |
| Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire | 2009: A. R. Rahman (two), Gulzar and Resul Pookutty |
| Oscars in 2023 | Naatu Naatu from RRR; The Elephant Whisperers, documentary short |
| Top prize at Cannes | Palme d'Or (France) |
| Top prize at Berlin | Golden Bear (Germany) |
| Top prize at Venice | Golden Lion (Italy) |
| First Cannes festival, 1946 | Neecha Nagar shared the highest prize |
| Emmy and Grammy | Emmy for television, Grammy for music |
| First Indian Grammy winner | Ravi Shankar, 1968, West Meets East |
Practice MCQs on this topic
Who among the following is the first Indian to get an Oscar Award?
- A.Bhanu Athaiya
- B.Satyajit Ray
- C.AR Rahman
- D.Resul Pookutty
Show answer
She won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design in 1983 for Richard Attenborough's film Gandhi, sharing the award with John Mollo, and became the first Indian of any kind to receive an Oscar.
Read the full explanation →The Emmy Awards, seen in the news, are presented for excellence in which of the following fields?
- A.Music
- B.Literature
- C.Cinema
- D.Television industry
Show answer
The Emmy awards are the American honours for work made for television, covering drama series, comedy, news and documentary programmes, and they stand in the same relation to television as the Oscars do to cinema.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following is the first female from India to win a Grammy award?
- A.Monali Thakur
- B.Neeti Mohan
- C.Tanvi Shah
- D.Palak Muchhal
Show answer
She sang the Spanish lines of Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire and also wrote them, and when the song won the Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media in 2010 she became the first Indian woman to win a Grammy award.
Read the full explanation →Bhanu Athaiya won her Academy Award in which category?
- A.Best Actress
- B.Best Costume Design
- C.Best Original Score
- D.Best Documentary
Show answer
Bhanu Athaiya designed the costumes for Gandhi, the film Richard Attenborough made in 1982, and shared the Academy Award of 1983 in that category with the British designer John Mollo.
Read the full explanation →A. R. Rahman won two Academy Awards in 2009 for the music of which film?
- A.Lagaan
- B.Slumdog Millionaire
- C.Life of Pi
- D.Gandhi
Show answer
A. R. Rahman won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and, with the lyricist Gulzar, for the Best Original Song Jai Ho.
Read the full explanation →Satyajit Ray received an Honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement in which year?
- A.1983
- B.1985
- C.1992
- D.2009
Show answer
The Academy gave Satyajit Ray an honorary award for his lifetime of work in cinema, and it was handed to him in a Kolkata hospital as he was too ill to travel.
Read the full explanation →The Palme d'Or is the highest award of which film festival?
- A.Berlin Film Festival
- B.Venice Film Festival
- C.Cannes Film Festival
- D.Toronto Film Festival
Show answer
Its highest award is the Palme d'Or, the Golden Palm, given to the best film of the main competition, and below it comes the Grand Prix, which Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine as Light won in 2024.
Read the full explanation →The Golden Bear is awarded at which of the following film festivals?
- A.Berlin
- B.Venice
- C.Cannes
- D.Moscow
Show answer
The Berlin International Film Festival, held in Germany early in the year, gives the Golden Bear to the best film and Silver Bears for direction, acting and screenplay.
Read the full explanation →The Academy Awards are presented every year by which organisation?
- A.The British Academy of Film and Television Arts
- B.The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- C.The Recording Academy
- D.The Directorate of Film Festivals
Show answer
Its members vote on the awards, the first ceremony was held in 1929 for the films of 1927 and 1928, and the golden statuette given to a winner is universally called the Oscar.
Read the full explanation →The song Naatu Naatu, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2023, is from which film?
- A.Baahubali
- B.RRR
- C.Pushpa
- D.Kantara
Show answer
Its song Naatu Naatu, composed by M. M. Keeravani with words by Chandrabose, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2023, the first time a song from an Indian production had taken that award.
Read the full explanation →Which Indian film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1957?
- A.Pather Panchali
- B.Aparajito
- C.Do Bigha Zamin
- D.Neecha Nagar
Show answer
The trilogy follows the boy Apu from his village childhood to his life in the city, and Aparajito is the middle part of it.
Read the full explanation →The BAFTA awards are given in which country?
- A.United States
- B.France
- C.United Kingdom
- D.Italy
Show answer
BAFTA stands for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and its awards are given for films, television programmes and games made or shown in Britain.
Read the full explanation →Frequently Asked Questions
Who was the first Indian to win an Oscar?
Bhanu Athaiya was the first Indian to win an Oscar. She received the Academy Award for Best Costume Design in 1983 for the film Gandhi, sharing it with John Mollo. Satyajit Ray, who is often given as the answer, received an honorary award for lifetime achievement in 1992.
How many Oscars did Slumdog Millionaire win for Indians?
Four Academy Awards of 2009 went to Indians for Slumdog Millionaire. A. R. Rahman won two, for Best Original Score and, with the lyricist Gulzar, for the Best Original Song Jai Ho. Resul Pookutty won the award for Best Sound Mixing along with his fellow sound engineers.
What is the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival?
The highest award at the Cannes Film Festival in France is the Palme d'Or, or the Golden Palm, given to the best film in the main competition. The second highest is the Grand Prix, which Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine as Light won in 2024.
What is the difference between the Oscar, the Emmy and the Grammy?
The three awards belong to three different fields in the United States. The Oscar, or Academy Award, is given for cinema, the Emmy for work in television and the Grammy for music. The Tony award, given for theatre on Broadway, completes the set of four.
Which Indians have won a Grammy award?
Ravi Shankar was the first Indian to win a Grammy, in 1968, for the album West Meets East recorded with Yehudi Menuhin. A. R. Rahman won two Grammy awards in 2010 for Slumdog Millionaire, and Tanvi Shah, a singer on the song Jai Ho, became the first Indian woman to win one in the same year.
Sources
- Academy Awards history and winners database — Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- Festival de Cannes: the awards of the official selection — Festival de Cannes
