Entertainment

Deepika Padukone is the third Indian presenter at the Oscars. Know about other Indians who did the honours

Last year, she was on the jury at Cannes Film Festival
Deepika Padukone

In December last year, Deepika Padukone was at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar to unveil the official FIFA World Cup trophy before the final between Argentina and France commenced. The actor became the first Indian ever to unveil the FIFA trophy.

A little over two months later, Deepika Padukone is all set to make India proud again. She will be seen as one of the presenters at the upcoming 95th Academy Awards. Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Samuel L Jackson and Michael B Jordan are some of the other presenters at the big event this year.

Last year, Padukone also served on the jury at Cannes 2022. “The festival management seem so convinced about why they made that decision (to have her on the jury),” Deepika told Variety. “It makes me sit back and think sometimes maybe I’ve not given myself enough credit. And that’s okay too, because, I don’t want to be feeling like, like this huge achievement or whatever. If I’ve landed here today, without even realizing it, I must be doing something right. And therefore, I don’t want to think too much about what led me to come here,” she added. Padukone has been walking the Cannes carpet each year since 2016.

Other Indians who have presented at the Oscars

Padukone will be the third Indian to present the Oscar. In 1980, Persis Khambatta became the first Indian to serve as a presenter at the Oscars. Winner of Femina Miss India in 1965, and the third Indian woman to participate in the Miss Universe pageant, Khambatta is remembered for playing Lieutenant Ilia in the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The model and actor died of a heart attack in 1998 at the age of 49.

In 2016, Priyanka Chopra became the second Indian to present Oscar. She presented the award alongside the likes of Tina Fey, Jared Leto, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell and J.K. Simmons.

India’s nominations at the 2023 Oscars

Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes has been nominated for the Best Documentary while Kartiki Gonsalves’s The Elephant Whisperers has been nominated for Best Documentary Short Film. SS Rajamouli’s RRR, meanwhile, is nominated for its song Nattu Nattu, which will also be performed on stage by singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava.

The 95th Oscar Awards will take place on March 12th, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.