Priyanka Chopra Jonas looked stunning in a black cocktail saree at the event. Image Source: THR
The 94th Academy Awards are going to be held on Sunday, March 27th, 2022, at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre and will be broadcast live on ABC. Ahead of the award ceremony, Priyanka Chopra Jonas co-hosted a pre-Oscars celebration party to celebrate South Asian talent in the industry, along with Mindy Kaling, Kumail Nanjiani, Anjula Acharia, Maneesh K. Goyal, Shruti Ganguly, and Bela Bajaria.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas hosted the event in Beverly Hills, California, on March 23rd and celebrities who graced the event included Riz Ahmed, Suroosh Alvi, Pawo Choyning Dorji, Joseph Patel, Sushmit Gosh, Anurima Bhargava, Aneil Karia, Lily Singh, Aziz Ansari, Kal Penn, etc. The event was sponsored by UTA, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Johnnie Walker, the South Asian Art Resilience Fund of the India Center, and the Juggernaut.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas delivered an impactful and powerful speech as she recalled her time in the industry and how she started her career, including an incident with actor Aziz Ansari at the Golden Globes party. The actress raised a toast to all the nominees of the Academy Awards this year and said that when she came to America ten years ago to look for work, she remembered being at a Golden Globes party and meeting Aziz Ansari.
The actress, who recently played Sati in Matrix Resurrections, revealed that both of us wanted to count how many brown people were at the party at the time, and there were only the two of us. She added that now things have changed as she stands among her peers, colleagues, and South Asian excellence and feels immensely proud that she has been here to witness such a wonderful gathering and change. She added that she feels grateful that all of the people are gathered under one roof as a community and can recognize each other’s art.
Priyanka added that she feels that it’s very important for executives and people behind the camera to come from a South Asian background so that the stories of South Asians that are being made or portrayed on-screen are authentic and honest. She mentioned that she has witnessed a massive change in the last decade, but it’s important for the generation now and the future generation to not be afraid and be able to take big strides.
Riz Ahmed, who has made a name for himself in the industry and is known as one of the most diversified actors in the industry, also took the stage to share that if all South Asian talent can come together to celebrate each other’s wins as their own, then we should all step up to hold each other’s suffering as one collective suffering.
In 2019, Riz Ahmed became the first Muslim and Pakistani actor to earn a nomination at the Academy Awards under the category of Best Actor for his brilliant work in "Sound of Metal." This year, Riz’s short film "The Long Goodbye" is nominated under the category of Best Live Action Short Film, which is about Ahmed and his family and their daily lives. The movie is directed by Aneil Karia and written by Riz and Aneil both.
Riz Ahmed said that the Academy is now recognizing the elders and at the same time uplifting the new comers. The actor mentioned that movies like The Long Goodbye and Flee are depicting the stories of refugees and intolerance which confronts the audience with questions on some level they are asking to themselves anyway. Riz Ahmed's 'Flee' is also nominated at the 94th Academy Awards and is the first movie to be nominated under the categories of International Feature Film, Best Animated Feature, and Best Documentary Feature.
As for work, Priyanka Chopra Jonas will soon be seen in ‘Text For You’, which is also going to feature singers Celine Dion and Sam Heughan. The actress is also going to feature in a Bollywood road-trip movie along with Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif.
The Academy Awards are being hosted by Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall.
