The Academy featured late Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar in its ‘In Memoriam’ segment on the Oscars website, on Sunday, but overlooked actor Dilip Kumar, who also passed away in the last year.
The 94th edition of the Academy Awards was held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and saw Sian Heder‘s CODA (Children of Deaf Adults) take home the Best Picture award, Best Adapted Screenplay honour, and Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur.
During the event, tributes were paid to members of the film fraternity who had died in the past year, such as actors Sidney Poitier, Betty White, Michael K Williams, Ned Beatty, William Hurt, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, composer Stephen Sondheim, filmmakers Peter Bogdanovich, Ivan Reitman and Jean Marc-Vallee.
While Mangeshkar’s name did not appear alongside the aforementioned names in the five-minute clip that was played during the live event, she was featured on the Oscar website. Kumar’s name, on the other hand, was absent from the web page as well.
However, while Mangeshkar’s absence in the live event was noted, Kumar’s exclusion skipped notice.
A user wrote, “Why was the Indian Nightingale Lata Mangeshkar omitted from Oscars tribute? She is a legend! Bizzare and inexcusable!”
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Another user wrote, “The amazing world-record setting Lata Mangeshkar (who passed away from Covid) sang more songs for more movies than shown in all Oscars combined. Yet, the Oscars 2022, In Memoriam did not see it fit to honor her even with a mention. Sometimes, I think, colonialism still lives on.”
Mangeshkar, fondly known as the ‘Nightingale of India’, died of COVID in February. She was first admitted to the hospital on January 8, after testing positive for the virus. Although she showed some signs of improvement at first, her condition worsened and she succumbed to multiple organ failure on February 6.
Kumar, on the other hand, passed away in July 2021, after suffering from a prolonged illness.