Oscars 2022: Ahead of awards ceremony, Priyanka Chopra Jonas hosts party for South Asian talent

Priyanka Chopra Jonas hosted a pre-Oscars bash to honour South Asian excellence ahead of the highly-coveted awards ceremony on March 28.

Riz Ahmed, Lilly Singh, Kal Penn, Aziz Ansari were in attendance along with hosts Mindy Kaling, Kumail Nanjiani, Anjula Acharia, Maneesh K. Goyal, Shruti Ganguly and Netflix’s Bela Bajaria, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Chopra Jonas also gave a speech where she spoke about stepping foot in Hollywood a decade ago, and not finding a lot of brown faces among the crowd. She noted that the industry has come a long way since in terms of diversity and inclusivity. 

"We went out there and met everyone else. But today, I am not someone else. Today, I stand amongst peers, amongst colleagues, amongst South Asian excellence. I have goosebumps, I am emotional, it makes me very proud," said the actor, who was dressed in a striking black saree for the event. 

Watch the video here:

Ahmed also gave a speech, where he said, "If we can come together as a community to celebrate our wins as our wins. Let’s all step up to hold each other’s suffering as our collective suffering. Let’s use this platform for solidarity as well as celebration."

This year has a long-list of South Asian talent nominated at Oscars 2022: Ahmed (Flee, The Long Goodbye), Joseph Patel (Summer of Soul), Suroosh Alvi (Flee) Pawo Choyning Dorji (Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom), Aneil Karia (The Long Goodbye), Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei (Three Songs for Benazir), Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh and Anurima Bhargava (Writing with Fire).