Predictions : 83rd Annual Academy Awards (Oscar) Winners

Hollywood’s annual Academy Awards bonanza is not always about honouring the best. It’s more about presenting a politically correct image — an Oscar image — of what the American film industry deems as cinema it would like to promote.

As the Red Carpet gets ready to be laid out for the 83rd Academy Awards at Hollywood’s Kodak Theater on Sunday, there’s a hint of the hackneyed about predicting who’s going to win. Trends set over the years, as well as the pattern of nominations this year, have already made it clear Hollywood’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and its bank of voters don’t like surprise verdicts. Never mind then if Inception was the one Hollywood film that jolted you the most last year.

Christopher Nolan’s unprecedented cinematic marvel won’t win Best Film despite being nominated. The Oscars don’t like honouring sci-fi stuff in any of the main categories. Nolan and company will have to be happy with a few secondary trophies — cinematography, art director, sound mixing and/or sound editing, may be.

So, who is going to take home the Oscar this time ? Here are our bets, moreover prdictions:

BEST FILM: The King’s Speech . It is a bio- pic soaked in British history and packs in an underdog formula. The combo makes the film everyone’s favourite, going by Oscar tradition. The Coen Brothers’ True Grit and David Fincher’s The Social Network could be dark horses.

BEST ACTOR: Colin Firth in The King’s Speech . The actor’s sensitive portrayal apart, the advantage lies in the fact that Hollywood loves to honour acts that celebrate the triumph of human will against all odds. James Franco does the same in 127 Hours , but then Firth plays a British monarch. And the Oscars love British royalty.

BEST ACTRESS: Natalie Portman in Black Swan . Without doubt, the best act among all contenders. It’s also the performance that has generated maximum hype. Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole and Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone are good too, but their acts aren’t a patch on the suffering that Portman basks in.

BEST DIRECTOR: Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech . Take a look at his competition. Christopher Nolan’s Inception is sci- fi fare, the Coen Brothers’ True Grit is a grizzly Western, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and David Fincher’s The Social Network are too dark, and David Russell’s The Fighter is — well — the story of a boxer. Hooper would seem like a politically correct choice.