And the Oscar goes to…

With less than 24 hours to the opening of the most watched awards ceremony - Oscars, it is time to check our predictions and pick yours

Leonardo DiCaprio has been the butt of all jokes and memes on the internet, for knocking on the doors of the Academy Awards (Oscars), but failing to win an award each time, since many years now. However, it looks like all is going to change as the 41-year-old actor is an overwhelming favourite to win his first Oscar. His brilliant portrayal as for trapper Hugh Glass in the Alejandro G Innaritu’s ‘The Revenant’ earned him laurels apart from landing BAFTAs and SAG awards.

However, Eddie Redmayne is slated to clinch the glory away from DiCaprio. His fabulous portrayal of Einar Wegener - the first recipient of sex re-assignment surgery, put him up for a fighting chance of repeating the illustrious feat performed by Spencer Tracy and Tom Hanks before, that is, winning back-to-back Oscars.

Talking about back-to-back awards; unless an upset is going to happen, Alejandro G Innaritu is going to repeat John Ford and Joseph L Mankiewicz’s feat. While his film ‘The Revenant’ might not sweep all the awards, he is an odds-on favourite to win the best director.

Cate Blanchett was brilliant as Carol Aird – a woman, who is trying to come to terms with her sexuality and going over a bad divorce in the film ‘Carol’, but the actress, who earlier won the best actress award for ‘Elizabeth’ may have to settle for disappointment this time around. Brie Larson must be busy preparing her speech, she is going to win the Oscar for ‘Room’. Her turn as Joy “Ma” Newsome, a mother who is trying to keep her child’s sanity intact, while being held captive in a squalid room, is nothing less than amazing.

‘The Revenant’ is an overwhelming favourite in the best actor and director categories but the same cannot be said about the film clinching the award for the best film. It is up against Steven Spielberg’s ‘Bridge of Spies’, Ridley Scott’s ‘The Martian’, George Miller’s ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ and Adam McKay’s ‘The Big Short’.

While ‘The Revenant’ was the front runner to win the award, it’s recent upset with ‘The Big Short’ winning at the Producers’ Guild Awards has changed the equations. With brilliant films like Lenny Abrahamson’s ‘Room’ and Tom McCarthy’s ‘Spotlight ‘ also in the fray, it is going to be a nail-biting finish in the best film category.

Mexican cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki is on the driver’s seat to set a record for winning the Oscar three times in the row. The Jewish-Mexican, who won the award for ‘Gravity’ and ‘Birdman’, is more than likely to win the award for ‘The Revenant’. Be it the use of natural light to shoot the film or the seamless integration of CGI and live action shots in the bear attack sequence, he is definitely leading the race for the best cinematographer award.

Veteran actor Sylvester Stallone, who picked up the best supporting actor award in the BAFTAs for portraying aging Rocky Balboa, who trains Apollo Creed’s son Adonis in ‘Creed’, is up against a brilliant Christian Bale’s portrayal of the eccentric investment guru Michael Burry in ‘The Big Short’, the superb Tom Hardy as John Fitzgerald a soldier, who is desperate to get home to escape from punishing chilly winters in ‘The Revenant’ and Mark Ruffalo as Mike Rezendes, an enterprising journalist in ‘Spotlight’.

It remains to be seen, whether the Academy honours Stallone or Hardy, who had brilliant 2015 with films like ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, ‘Legend’ and ‘The Revenant’. Mouthing Aaron Sorkin’s lines is not an easy task, yet Kate Winslet made it look easy in her brilliant portrayal of Joanna Hoffman in Danny Boyle’s ‘Steve Jobs’ that puts her in the pole position to win the award in the best supporting actress category.

Having said that, one cannot count out Rooney Mara’s Theresa in ‘Carol’ or Alicia Vikander’s Gerda Wegener in ‘The Danish Girl’ - this remains a very competitive category. Indians have something to cheer about in this edition of Oscars. Indian-origin director Asif Kapadia’s ‘Amy’, a documentary on singer Amy Winehouse is odds-on favourite to win the Oscar in the best documentary category. Meanwhile Pixar’s ‘Inside Out’ is touted to win the best animation feature.

While it is fun to predict the awards, it remains to be seen whether the films ‘The Revenant’ and ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ will sweep the awards in the picture and technical categories respectively, as is expected in the white-washed academy awards.