Having grossed nearly $370 million worldwide, Sinners filled Warner Bros coffers when many of the studio’s key 2025 films lost money, and deserves its many Oscar nominations, asserts Aseem Chhabra.
IMAGE: A scene from Sinners.
Key Points
- Sinners was a hit with critics and audiences around the world, including India.
- Brooklyn-based Indian American documentarian Geeta Gandbhir received two nominations: The Perfect Neighbor in the Best Documentary section as well as The Devil is Busy in the Best Short Documentary section.
- Alexandre Singh, a filmmaker of Indian origin, was nominated for the live action short Two People Exchanging Saliva.
Sinners breaks records at Oscar nominations 2026
Ryan Coogler’s thrilling, vampire drama, also a great musical, Sinners, has broken a film history record by receiving 16 Oscar nominations.
Sinners released early last year was a hit with critics and audiences around the world, including India. The previous record of 14 nominations was held by three films, All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land.
Having grossed nearly $370 worldwide, Sinners filled Warner Bros coffers when many of the studio’s key 2025 films lost money.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another raked up the second highest nominations, 13 in all, although it remained one of the Warner films to lose money in 2025. Going into the nomination announcements OBAA was the front runner for the Best Picture Oscar. But that may not be an absolute certainty now, given the amount of love the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members have shown for Sinners.
Sentimental Value‘s ladies bag Oscar nom
IMAGE: A scene from Sentimental Value.
The nominations announced on January 22 at 5.30 am in Los Angeles were filled with surprises. The most important statement that came out of the nominations is that the Academy’s nearly 11,000 members, many of them foreign nationals, are not always influenced by other awards such as the Golden Globes, the Critics’ Choice Awards or previous nominations handed out by the Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).
That would explain the Academy voters snubbing actors such as Chase Infiniti (OBAA), Ariana Grande (Wicked: For Good), and most disappointing for me, Paul Mescal. He was fantastic in the heartbreaking role of William Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet.
Instead the acting nominations included surprises such as the always dependable Delroy Lindo (supporting actor for Sinners), and two nominations for supporting actresses in the Norwegian film Sentimental Value, Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas. The biggest surprise was Kate Hudson, a Hollywood darling, getting nominated in the best actress category for Song Sung Blue.
The disappointments at the Oscar nominations 2026
IMAGE: A scene from It Was Just an Accident.
Perhaps the other big disappointment was that both Guillermo Del Toro (Frankenstein) and Jaffer Panahi (It Was Just an Accident) were ignored in the Best Director category.
Frankenstein was Del Toro’s passion project that he planned to make for 50 years. At least his critically acclaimed Netflix film did receive nine nominations. Panahi’s Iranian film, but officially a French entry, was nominated in the Best Original Screenplay as well as Best International Film categories.
Homebound misses out
IMAGE: A scene from Homebound.
Neeraj Ghaywan’s hard hitting Homebound did not make it to the Best International Film list. Ghaywan, and his lead actors Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa campaigned hard for the film, traveling to major cities in the US and Europe and talking to potential voters. That led the film’s producer Karan Johar to even comment that the expensive campaign was a ‘bottomless pit’ and the outcome unknown.
The film, which premiered at the Cannes film festival, was executive produced by Martin Scorsese. Even though it was shortlisted in December, the film faced tough competition from other foreign language films.
Still, India does win…
IMAGE: A scene from The Perfect Neighbor.
But there was some exciting news for Indian film lovers. Brooklyn-based Indian American documentarian Geeta Gandbhir received two nominations. She was nominated for her exceptional film The Perfect Neighbor in the Best Documentary section as well as in the Best Short Documentary section for the HBO film, The Devil is Busy. She co-directed the film with Christalyn Hampton.
Alexandre Singh, a filmmaker of Indian origin, was nominated for the live action short Two People Exchanging Saliva. Singh co-directed the film with Natalie Musteata.
In the past many years, especially after the #OscarSoWhite campaign, the Academy opened up its membership base to film personalities of colour and added many international filmmakers, actors and producers. One good thing that has come from this expansion of the membership is that foreign language films have fared well in the recent years.
This year Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, a film about love, loss and families reconciling received nine nominations including for Best Picture, Best Director and Best International Film.
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Brazilian thriller The Secret Agent was nominated for four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor (Wagner Moura), Best International Film and the newly created Best Casting category.
The nominations mean that the Oscar season will continue for almost two more months. The Academy Awards will be handed out on March 15.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
