This Year's Academy Pays Tribute To Irrfan Khan And Bhanu Athaiya In Memoriam Segment

Irrfan Khan Bhanu Athaiya Honoured at Oscars: At the Academy Awards ceremony held on Monday morning, the organisers paid tribute to several actors, filmmakers, and artists who passed away in the past year. Among them were Indian actor Irrfan Khan and Oscar-winning costume designer Bhanu Athaiya.

The 93rd Academy Award at Los Angeles introduced the 'In Memoriam' segment reflecting on the difficult year we've had. “It was a year of profound loss in so many ways. At the Academy, we remember these accomplished filmmakers and artists," said the Academy. Actor Angela Bassett presented the honours to the notable deceased artists. Indian artists Irrfan Khan, Bhanu Athaiya were remembered, alongside Chadwick Boseman, Cicely Tyson, Sean Connery, Diana Rigg and Helen McCrory among others.

This Year's Academy Pays Tribute To Irrfan Khan Bhanu Athaiya In Memoriam Segment

There were over 3 million people lost around the world due to COVID-19, Bassett said during her introduction. "Considering the enormity of our collective loss and the often incomprehensible times we're living in, we wish to also acknowledge those precious lives lost to the violence of inequality, injustice, hatred, racism and poverty. To all of those who left our lives too soon, we cherish the moments that we had the honor of having with you," she added.

Bassett expressed that the Oscars were celebrating "the artists who gave us permission to dream, the technical pioneers and innovators who expanded our experience of movie love."

The Paan Singh Tomar actor Irrfan Khan died on April 29 last year. He was battling cancer for almost two years and breathed his last at the age of 53. He is survived by wife Sutapa Sikdar, Babil and his younger son, Ayaan.

Irrfan's last theatrical release in Bollywood was Angrezi Medium. He earned global fame with his Hollywood films such as Life of Pi, Jurassic World, and Inferno. Bhanu Athaiya, on the other hand, was the first Indian to win an Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Gandhi in 1982. She passed away on 15 October 2020 after a long battle with brain cancer in Mumbai. She was 91.

Actor Freida Pinto, in her tribute to Khan on the In Memoriam page, shared that there was no one like Irrfan Khan as his "grace and dignity" along with his "monumental talent" as an artist were impeccable. She went on to say that the actor was a portrayer of humanity in all shapes and forms and that she has a "deep admiration" for him. "I instinctively wanted to emulate that grace in my career as well," she added.

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Late actors Rishi Kapoor, Soumitra Chatterjee and Sushant Singh Rajput were mentioned on the website of the Academy Awards in a special In Memoriam section.