Will Natalie take home the Oscar this year?

Portman’s portrayal of a troubled ballerina battling her demons and sexuality in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan has won favour with both the Critics’ Choice as well as Golden Globes, seen largely as the precursors to the Oscars. In previous years, many Golden Globe awardees have gone on to take home Uncle Oscar during Hollywood’s glitziest, most prestigious awards ceremony.

But the critics have themselves been divided about her performance – some have hailed it as the most daring performance by a female lead in recent years, while others have written reams about the singular pained expression that she sports all through the movie. The movie’s highly publicised lesbian scene that Portman herself admitted as a deliberate male-audience drawing move seems to be more talked about than her portrayal of a ballerina on the brink of insanity. The Academy’s puritanical voters, however, have so far shied away from bestowing glory on anything, well, out of the ordinary, so far. So will Portman’s gloriously lesbian act of onscreen love find any takers in the Academy, come Oscar night?

Trade experts say Portman’s name is as good as etched on the card inside that sealed PriceWaterhouse Coopers’ envelope.

Another upset that seems to have divided the world into two factions is the huge snub that Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’ got at the hands of the Globes, with ‘The Social Network’ walking away with top movie honours. Maybe a dream conceptualised, executed and realised struck closer to the heart than a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream (I forget how many layers). I have a feeling that what swung the vote in ‘The Social Network’s’ direction was the “Because I’m CEO, bitch” line. Who doesn’t want to say that out loud?

With the Academy deciding to increase the number of best film nominees from 5 to 10 this year onwards, both films will find their chances of winning halved. (Psst, expect Filmfare to follow suit in the blink of an eye.)

Who do you think will be nominated/will win this year’s Oscars?

My predictions for the three top awards:

Natalie Portman in Black Swan - Best Actress

Colin Firth in The King’s Speech – Best Actor

The Social Network – Best Film