CDS (II) 2024 General Knowledge · Question 117 of 120

Correct — B, Oppenheimer. Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer won Best Picture at the 96th Academy Awards, held on 10 March 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. The film led the field with thirteen nominations and converted seven of them, including Best Director for Nolan — his first — Best Actor for Cillian Murphy and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr., along with cinematography, editing and original score. It is a biographical drama about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who led the Los Alamos laboratory of the Manhattan Project, and about the security hearing that stripped him of his clearance afterwards. All three of the other films on the list were also nominated for Best Picture that year, which is what makes the question a genuine recall item rather than a guess from familiarity.

• (a)Anatomy of a Fall — Nominated for Best Picture and it won Best Original Screenplay, but the top award went elsewhere. Justine Triet's film had already taken the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2023.
• (c)Barbie — Nominated for Best Picture and the year's biggest commercial success; its single win was Best Original Song for 'What Was I Made For?'.
• (d)Killers of the Flower Moon — Nominated in ten categories including Best Picture, but Martin Scorsese's film won none of them.

The Academy Awards are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for films released in the preceding calendar year, so the 96th ceremony in March 2024 honoured films of 2023. Best Picture is voted by the full membership using a preferential ballot, which tends to reward films with broad support across the Academy's branches rather than the narrow enthusiasm that can win a craft category.

Awards questions are pure recall, and the way to keep them cheap is to store one line per ceremony: the year, the Best Picture winner and any Indian connection. For the 96th that line is 2024, Oppenheimer, seven awards. The Indian anchor for the immediately preceding ceremony is worth pairing with it — 'Naatu Naatu' from RRR won Best Original Song at the 95th Academy Awards in March 2023, and The Elephant Whisperers won Best Documentary Short Film the same night. Note also that our own record of this question carries a flag saying it depends on a picture; the printed booklet page shows no figure at all, and the question is answerable entirely from its text.

• The 96th Academy Awards were held on 10 March 2024 at the Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles.
• Oppenheimer led with thirteen nominations and won seven awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Christopher Nolan.
• Cillian Murphy won Best Actor and Robert Downey Jr. Best Supporting Actor for the same film.
• Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie and Killers of the Flower Moon were all Best Picture nominees that year.
• At the 95th ceremony in 2023, 'Naatu Naatu' from RRR won Best Original Song and The Elephant Whisperers won Best Documentary Short Film.

• Picking the year's biggest box-office film rather than the Best Picture winner.
• Confusing Best Picture with Best Director, which can go to different films.
• Mixing the ceremony number with the year of the films it honours — the 96th ceremony was held in 2024 for 2023 releases.

As a straight recall item on a named ceremony, often paired in the same paper with a question on an Indian winner.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Who won the Academy Award for Best Director at the 96th Academy Awards?

  • (a)Martin Scorsese
  • (b)Christopher Nolan
  • (c)Greta Gerwig
  • (d)Justine Triet

  Answer(b) Christopher Nolan — his first Academy Award for direction, for Oppenheimer.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  'Naatu Naatu', which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2023, is from which film?

  • (a)RRR
  • (b)Gully Boy
  • (c)Slumdog Millionaire
  • (d)Lagaan

  Answer(a) RRR — composed by M. M. Keeravani with lyrics by Chandrabose, the first Indian song to win the award.