A. R. Rahman ‘bought’ Oscars? See what says Oscar Panel!

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Oscar Panel has declined music composer Ismail Darbar’s charge that A. R. Rahman bought his Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has issued a statement on Friday in which it described Darbar’s charge as “Unprecedented and preposterous”.

The statement reads- “It is not unusual for an individual to express the view that Academy members selected the wrong recipient for a particular award, but to charge that a win was achieved by underhanded means is unprecedented and preposterous.”

The panel also described the strict procedure to choose a winner, “For the record, voting for the Academy Awards is conducted under such stringently controlled conditions that it would simply not be possible for an 'Academy official,' even if he or she were inclined to do so, to set aside the vote of the artists who make up the organization's membership.

“Darbar is evidently not aware that the ballots for both music categories are handled and processed directly by the offices of Pricewaterhouse Coopers. The envelopes containing the winning achievements are prepared by two executives of that firm and never leave their custody until they are opened onstage in full view of the world.”

A. R. Rahman has won two Oscars in 2009 for the film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, one for best original score and other for best original soundtrack (jai ho) for the film. A few time ago Indian music composer Ismail Darbar was quoted as saying that he doesn’t understand how the music won the prestigious award. According to him it wasn’t Oscar worthy and Rahman didn’t deserve it, further he claimed “I know that it has been bought”.

The publicist of Academy Awards, Teni Melidonian stated, “We are not familiar with Ismail Darbar or with the evidence, if any has been offered, on which he is basing his assertion that A.R. Rahman received his Academy Awards through bribery of 'Academy officials. When we first became aware of the charge last week we regarded it as too ludicrous to require an official comment.”