By Garima Sharma in Los Angeles

Image courtesy : 

Jason Merritt / Getty Images

The leap year of 2016 squarely
belongs to two distinct performers, at least in the history of the Academy
Awards – Leonardo DiCaprio and Lady Gaga. After years and years of patience, Leo
finally broke the jinx and took home a truly well-deserved Oscar for his
incredible performance in “The Revenant”. The actor used the opportunity to
talk about climate change and ended his speech by saying, “I thank you all for
this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not
take tonight for granted. Thank you so very much.”

A little earlier in the evening, Lady
Gaga gave this year’s 80 million viewers goosebumps with her performance of
“Till It Happens To You”, a message about sexual assault, where she was joined
by dozens of survivors on stage. As much as entertainment is a part of the
Oscar ceremony, it was a powerful departure from tradition to see the platform being
used to send out such a strong message. American Vice President Joe Biden had
introduced her performance.

But before any of this had happened,
we were thrilled to see Bollywood star and now international actress Priyanka
Chopra present an award at the glittering ceremony, held at the iconic Dolby
Theatre. Looking stunning in a Zuhair Murad, Priyanka presented the award along
with Hollywood actor Liev Schreiber. 

Here are some other interesting
highlights from the 88^th Academy Awards:

 THE NEIGHBOURS WIN

After picking a Grammy for his
heart-wrenching documentary “Amy” on the late Amy Winehouse, Indian-origin
director Asif Kapadia added an Oscar to his kitty tonight. Pakistani filmmaker
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won her second Oscar tonight for her documentary “A Girl
in the River”.

 INDO-BRITISH ACTOR REMEMBERED

The late Saeed
Jaffrey, who passed away in London last year, was remembered at the ceremony during
the ‘In Memoriam’ montage this year. Jaffrey has been part of cult films like
“Shatranj Ke Khiladi” and “Gandhi”. After the tribute, his daughter Sakina, who
is also an actress, posted on her Facebook page, “Nice to see that there was
one Indian actor at the Oscars where it seemed as if the were only White and
Black actors and no colors in between!”

 Indian design on the red carpet

Actress Charlotte Riley, wife of Tom
Hardy (nominated for Best Supporting Actor), was spotted in a stunning black
creation by Delhi-based designer sister duo Gauri-Nainika. Even Kate Winslet
went the Indian route and was seen sporting beautiful jewellery by Indian designer
Nirav Modi.