The ripples die early every year, and this year is no exception. By the time you read this the 88th Academy Awards will be old news. However for trivia buffs, Oscar pundits and controversy-seekers, it will be remembered as the year that meted out a few unexpected trophies and asserted the unified stance of an age-old institution.

Spotlight which won Best Picture (against our predicted wins and upsets) certified that Hollywood is still very old school; its mentality (at least of those in governance) becomes evident as the awards are handed out every year. Out of the 21 categories we predicted, we aced 18, including three predicted upsets.

But we do not predict the Shorts categories, because there are no means to see these titles (Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won her second Oscar for yet another documentary highlighting a socially relevant issue in Pakistan).

The three misses we had were Best Picture, Visual Effects and Song.

According to the experts site Gold Derby, the sites editors and experts from newspapers rallied largely behind The Revenant; the film had 77 per cent odds to win, while The Big Short (our predicted win) was at 17pc in the days leading to the event (its numbers were more favourable before); Ex Machina only had 1pc odds to win for its Visual Effects, while Writings on the Wall, which won Best Song, only had 8pc.

Our misses could have been due to an industry-wide statement of supporting the smaller picture, or an openly gay artist (Sam Smith’s speech has since been tagged as a disservice to the LGBT community, and factually inaccurate).

Everyone pegged Spotlight as the third in the race; it was an early contender that somewhat lost its sheen when The Revenant started picking up wins at the Directors Guild, Golden Globes and BAFTA — the British Academy Awards. BAFTA is a good forecaster of the Oscars, as is the Producer’s Guild (PGA) where The Big Short won Best Picture (this is the first time in a decade that the PGA is wrong). Considering the math, and going with our gut, we picked The Big Short as Best Picture partly because it was relevant and recent. Spotlight, which we found excellently-written, well-performed and smartly-paced, became an off-shot. The Academy, though, chose otherwise and because they don’t give out the number of votes, we don’t know exactly by what margin.

In a way, it’s a fitting, well-deserved win. Spotlight talks about morals, integrity and civic duties, challenging a big institution — the Church — on allegations of child abuse (it is an original screenplay based on the real-life incident at the Boston Globe newspaper). The thinking behind it reflects the Academy in a way — especially this year when the Oscars were targeted by members of the African-American community for its lack of racial diversity.

About two weeks back, IoS reported why the hullaballoo this year is partially unjust. For starters, the Academy is not racially diverse (members are mostly 60-ish and white, with few females and other minorities); steps, however, are being taken to change this.

The Academy would only nominate actors of colour if there were Oscar-worthy performances in the year. Will Smith, snubbed for his performance in Concussion, gives an almost nominee-worthy turn, only to be let down by the picture’s pacing and direction. The truth of the matter: Hollywood producers only have a handful of Oscar-worthy motion pictures for actors of colour. And when these motion pictures do come out, they are justly rewarded in fitting categories (last year’s 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture and then there are other titles like The Help). How is this the Academy’s fault, then?

In a stand-off-ish manner, we appreciated the way Chris Rock handled his hosting duties. Speaking for the Academy was like a hard statement, stern and compassionate; like a father’s way of disciplining.

At times though, it was too much, as regular presenters were sandwiched between the Academy’s pressure to politically correct itself in front of the world. The act, smartly pulled off, took the sheen out of an entertaining ceremony. Oh the interest was there, but it could only be compared to that of an unwinding episode of a pressing political analysis show at election time. And where’s the fun in that?

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, March 6th, 2016