Deepika Padukone, Riz Ahmed to present awards at the Oscars

03 Mar, 2023

Bollywood star Deepika Padukone and British actor Riz Ahmed will be part of the first slate of presenters for the 95th Academy Awards, it was announced on Thursday.

They will be joined by Dwayne Johnson, Michael B. Jordan, Emily Blunt, Glenn Close, Troy Kotsur, Jennifer Connelly, Samuel L. Jackson, Melissa McCarthy, Zoe Saldana, Donnie Yen, Jonathan Majors and Questlove.

The live ceremony will be hosted by late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel on March 12.

Padukone also posted the news on Instagram, with her husband, actor Ranveer Singh, and sister joining in to congratulate her.

Padukone has been making waves as a cross-over artist as she became the first Bollywood star to be chosen to unveil the FIFA World Cup trophy at the final in Qatar.

Last year, she became the very first Indian to be named brand ambassador for luxury French couture house Louis Vuitton, followed by ambassador for fine French jewellery house Cartier. Additionally, she has also served on the jury at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

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Ahmed, also an Oscar winning actor, became the first person of Pakistani descent to announce the Academy Awards nominations from the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater last month.

Early this year, he joined 'Joyland' as executive producer, citing it as "one of the best films of the year."

'Joyland' was shortlisted as Pakistan's entry for the Academy Awards in the 'Best International Feature Film' category, but did not make the final cut.

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Three Indian movies are competing for Oscars in various categories. The catchy song 'Naatu Naatu' from colourful South-Indian film 'RRR' has been nominated for Best Original Song, after having already won the Golden Globe Award in the same category earlier this year.

Shaunak Sen's 'All That Breathes' has been nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film and Guneet Monga's 'The Elephant Whisperers' for Best Documentary Short.

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