If anyone thinks that the Golden Globes are insignificant, the Hollywood studios are out to prove them wrong.
Aseem Chhabra previews this year's Golden Globes which will be held in Los Angeles on Sunday.
IMAGE: Workers build the red carpet area in preparation for the Golden Globes at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in 2016. Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
It is a question that is often asked among Hollywood film fans, especially those who pay close attention to the awards season.
How does a group of 90-odd foreign journalists -- members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, based in Los Angeles, but working for publications outside the US -- wield so much influence over the awards season, especially the most prized jewels in the crown: The Oscars?
Well, they vote for and host the annual Golden Globe awards show.
And the answer to the power of the HFPA, a seven decades old institution, is that studios love recognitions showered on their new films.
NBC reportedly pays $6 million for the rights to the show that is broadcast around the world.
The 75th Golden Globe awards will be presented on Sunday, January 7, at a ceremony held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
The week-long Oscar voting process starts two days earlier on January 5.
If anyone thinks that the Golden Globes are insignificant, the Hollywood studios are out to prove them wrong.
From the morning of January 8, the studios will go out of their way to promote the films, actors and other talents that would have won the Golden Globes.
It is an annual ritual that the member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, others who love Hollywood films and follow the awards cannot avoid.
It should be noted that most of the HFPA journalists are unknown in the US, and many are only part-time writers/critics.
To hold their membership, the HFPA members have to write a minimum of four articles in a given year. So many are not even journalists in the real sense of the word.
But the best way to deal with all of this is to embrace the Golden Globes and enjoy the show.
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IMAGE: Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer in The Shape Of Water.
The HFPA nominates best films, actors and actresses in drama and musical or comedy categories.
So there will be 10 actors and 10 actresses to watch out for on the red carpet and later, during the show, while they are seated around dinner tables, eating, drinking and mingling with their peers.
The Hollywood star struck among us will get a chance to watch and admire the dresses of Sally Hawkins, Frances McDormand, Meryl Streep (she has earned a record 30 nominations and won eight times), Michelle Williams and Jessica Chastain -- all nominated in the drama acting category.
My guess is that Sally Hawkins will win for The Shape of Water (the film should also win the best film in the drama category), but then Meryl Streep could quite easily take the trophy for The Post.
The HFPA members are obsessed with Streep and her acceptance speech will definitely make news.
Last year, while accepting the Cecil B DeMille award, Steep lashed out against Donald J Trump without naming the American president,
This year -- if she is given another chance to deliver a speech -- she will hopefully speak out against sexual harassment in Hollywood, given that she initially kept quiet about Harvey Weinstein and that resulted in a campaign aligning her with the disgraced producer.
IMAGE: Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird.
These fine actresses will be joined by the talented women, nominated in the musical or comedy category -- Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan and Emma Stone (she won last year for her performance in La La Land).
I predict Saoirse Ronan will win the award for Lady Bird (and it might also win the best film, musical or comedy award).
She will give Hawkins a tough fight in the best actress Oscar race (the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences does not separate the acting and best film awards in the drama and musical or comedy categories).
IMAGE: Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour.
We will also see 10 fine actors walk the red carpet.
In the drama category, first-time nominee, the 22-year-old Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) will join veterans Daniel Day Lewis, Tom Hanks, Gary Oldman (the favourite to win for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour) and Denzel Washington.
IMAGE: Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out.
In the musical or comedy actor section, another newcomer Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) is running neck-to-neck with James Franco (The Disaster Artist).
The two will join Steve Carell, Ansel Elgort and Hugh Jackman, who recently said Shah Rukh Khan was an inspiration for him as he danced in The Greatest Showman.
No matter who wins, ultimately the HFPA members can boast about the stars who showed up at their party and all the selfies they would have taken.
IMAGE: Angelina Jolie at the Golden Globes in 2012. Photograph: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
In fact, the HFPA association often ignore more qualified films just to draw a star to the awards show.
This year, a glaring omission in the best foreign language film category is the Israeli film Foxtrot.
Instead, the HFPA nominated Angelina Jolie's Cambodian film First They Killed My Father.
Jolie's film is a fairly impressive work.
But Foxtrot is definitely the strongest foreign language film of the year and it has been short-listed for the Oscars.
First They Killed My Father did not even make the Oscar short-list, but Jolie's presence at the Golden Globes will push the television ratings of the show. And hardly anyone in America knows Samuel Maoz, the tall lanky, bald Israeli director of Foxtrot.
IMAGE: Jessica Chastain in Molly's Game.
The same can be said about the screenplay award category.
HFPA chose to nominate Aaron Sorkin for Molly's Game over James Ivory whose adapted screenplay of Call Me By Your Name is being hailed as a career high for the 89-year-old filmmaker.
Molly's Game -- although somewhat clichéd -- is the first film directed by the hugely popular Sorkin.
His scripts -- from The West Wing to A Few Good Men and The Social Network -- have fans around the world.
Ivory has directed classics like A Room With A View, Howards End and the early Shashi Kapoor film The Householder. Unfortunately, he is not a recognisable face for American television viewers and -- I may sound harsh here -- but the old Master would not create the same sort of excitement on the red carpet.
Last year, HFPA did well by giving Moonlight a Globe, perhaps in response to all the #OscarsSoWhite criticism.
But we should remember that in 2011, they nominated a critically panned Hollywood film The Tourist in three categories. The Tourist's lead actors were big celebrities: Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.
That should say it all for the HFPA.
