Best Film-SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE:The Academy loves to honour movies that tells the story of an ordinary man in an extraordinary way.The story of Jamal Malik is on that same note just like the tale of Forrest Gump & Guido Orefice(Life is Beautiful).Some people have called it a bad representation of India.But i beg to differ with them because it talks about the harsh realities of people living in slum.India has the biggest slum in Asia and most probably in the whole world but it seems some people have their own way of demeaning its success.Thanks to Slumdog,we have got something very special from the Slums of Mumbai that we are never going to forget.The only movie that can disrupt Slumdog’s winning streak is Gus Van Sant’s MILK which talks about the historical Gay rights movement in late 70’s under the leadership of Harvey Milk.But my heart beats for Slumdog and so be it.Lastly,i strongly believe that no one can stop Slumdog to win the Best Editing & Best Cinematography Oscar and also not to forget Simon Beaufoy for Adapted Screenplay.

Best Actor-MICKEY ROURKE:He has staged a brilliant comeback this year as Randy “The Ram” and though Sean Penn seems to be a front-runner to win the Oscar i still feel Mickey should win this award.That’s why my vote goes to the 9 1/2 weeks star for delivering a memorable performance.The Academy might agree with me that “The Wrestler” had a very weak script and it just performed well in the BO for two reasons Rourke’s performance which was physically demanding for a 56-year old man,Marisa Tomei and not to forget Bruce Springsteen’s title song which missed out an oscar nomination under mysterious circumstances.On the other hand Sean Penn was well supported by a strong script,a strong role and some superb work by director Gus Van Sant.

Best Actress-KATE WINSLETT-Kate is still due to win an oscar and i think this is the right time that the Academy should honour her.No doubt Meryll Streep has given a superb performance in John Patrick Shanley’s DOUBT but again the debate will be that it was such a head-strong character that she had to play.There was so much substance in the character of Sister Aloysius.On the other hand Kate’s character Hanna had to handle over-exaggarated love making scenes with 18-year old David Kross,the best of Kate came out during the court trial.Hanna being ashamed of her illiteracy failed to get justice in the world of literate people.She made it look so real and that’s why my vote goes to Kate Winslett.

Best Director-DANNY BOYLE-There is nothing much to comment in this category.He has received awards in Golden Globe,BAFTA and Directors Guild of America this year for a path-breaking movie that we Indians can never forget and i feel that this award should go to him and only him as he made look India through our own eyes and not through a foreigner’s point of view.Only man who can beat him in this race is Gus Van Sant who was previously nominated for Good Will Hunting.

Original Score:A.R.RAHMAN-Well,there is no one else who can beat him in this category.Wall-E will be a very tough contender to beat in Sound Mixing and Sound Editing category and also not to forget that Peter Gabriel’s song “Down to Earth” can and i think will win the Best song over “Jai Ho”.

Supporting Actor(Male & Female):It’s a lock with Heath Ledger in Best male section and i think the female section will see Viola Davis taking it over Penelope Cruz.

The Animated feature film section in is hotting up as Kung-Fu Panda has joined the race after bagging all the top honours in the recently concluded “ANNIE AWARDS”. Where Kung-Fu Panda won 11 awards, Wall-E went home with none. Now this seems to be very interesting. Wall-E was said to be the best animation movie of 2008 and was also rumoured to be nominated for Best Picture along with Slumdog Millionaire & Co. and it’s script is nominated for Best Screenplay (Original) which bears testimony to the fact that it was the front runner among the 3 movies that got nominated in Best Animated Picture category in Oscar this year,the other two being Kung-Fu Panda and Bolt. I am not going to talk about Bolt coz i haven’t watched it and I don’t think it was better than it’s counterparts as far as Box-office collection is concerned.

Personally i liked both Kung-Fu Panda and Wall-E. Wall-E’s script is much more smarter than Kung-Fu Panda. Wall-E even goes on to take inspiration from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey were the computer tries to dictate over mankind and the famous soundtrack “Also Sprach Zarathusthra” was heard in last part of the movie. Even people leaving in space experienced loss of bones due to their laziness is an absolutely great inclusion in a script written by Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon.

The garbage covering the whole earth seemed so real as the present world is facing crisis like this and also warning us about our future and how can one forget Wall-E’s sidekick “Roach”? Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman’s song “We are coming down” is very refreshing and it will competing with the likes of “Jai Ho” and “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire in the Best Song Category.

But the high point of Wall-E was the chemistry between Wall-E and Eve and their voices well mastered by sound designer Ben Burtt who also laid his voice for Wall-E. The detailing, the designs were absolutely great and Pixar has left no stone unturned to place it among the top movies of 2008. The script of Wall-E is too good but it will be facing tough competition from flicks like In Bruges, Happy go Lucky,Milk and Frozen River. Can’t comment on what is going to happen coz i am still left to see those movies.

Kung-Fu Panda on the other hand is another well made movie with loads of fun and slam-bang action featuring stunning voices of Jack Black(Giant Panda), Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan & Co. Kung-Fu Panda is a fast movie compared to Wall-E. The action sequences were well executed and Dream works needs to be applauded for that. One thing I like about Kung-Fu Panda is it makes one believe in ones ability.

Remember the Scroll of the Dragon Warrior which believed to have secret powers but at the end of the day there was none as Po’s father said that there is no secret recipe.It’s actually you need to believe in it.That was really something that instills faith in us.Makes us believe. Kung-Fu panda really lived upto the expectations as far as wittiness is concerned.Wit and only wit is the most important factor in a script of an Animation movie.

Wall-E uses a technique which seems much tougher than Kung-Fu Panda as Andrew Stanton and Co. had to deal with various models of robots,landscape and the the model of Wall-E robots was a great concept and models like those can really be incepted to recycle garbage in future.Surely a great concept for the robot manufacturers!!!

A Robot cleaning waste in a lonely earth and then falling in love and travelling to space seems a better concept than Kung-Fu fanatic training to vanquish evil that’s why my vote goes to Wall-E as it dealt with life in earth and space,global crisis and more importantly the love story of Wall-E and Eve which was very special for the movie fanatics like me last year.