Last week, Hollywood was abuzz with the announcements for Oscar nominations and like every year, there were a large group of people who were left unhappy. More than any other award ceremony, it is always the Academy Awards that surrounds itself with considerable amount of controversies and surprises. This year too, was no different.

It had barely been 2 hours since the announcement and there were discussions galore on some of the biggest snubs. Ben Affleck for one, tipped as one of the top candidates for his directorial venture, Argo, was surprisingly missing from those nominated in the Best Director category.  And, despite a Golden Globe and a BAFTA nomination, Hellen Mirren too, was left off the Best Actress list for her role as ‘Alma Reville’ in Hitchcock.

In fact, the biggest shocker yet, was Kathryn Bigelow. The 2009 winner for Hurt Locker, she had been racking up nominations and awards for her new middle east war film. She accepted the ‘New York films critics circle award’ recently and was also up for a Golden Globe (which of course, was ultimately swept off by Ben Affleck) but sadly her name was amiss amongst those nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards.

However, this is not the first time that the Oscar Snubs have come as a surprise. Every year, the list of snubs keeps getting more and more interesting than the actual list of people nominated. I, for one, have a few heartbreaks of my own.

Following are some of the biggest Oscar snubs in the history of Academy Awards, that I personally thought deserved at the least a nomination, for their astounding work:

1.Gary Oldman – Sid and Nancy (1986)
Sure there was Paul Newman for ‘Colour of money’ and Dexter Gordon for ‘Round Midnight’ amongst other heavyweights who were nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor but I’m sure some space for one more could have been made. The hauntingly real portrayal of Sid Vicious - a punk rock legend, a raging drug addict and a possible murderer, by Oldman deserved, to say the least, a nomination. It is widely believed that Gary Oldman got so deeply involved emotionally as well physically with the character that he had to be hospitalized.

2.Steven Spielberg – Jaws (1975)
 The year’s nominees for Best Director did look pretty set with Milos Forman for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Federico Fellini for Amarcord ,Stanley Kubrick for ‘Barry Lyndon’, Sidney Lumet for ‘Dog Day Afternoon’, but with ‘Jaws’, Steven Spielberg essentially created a blockbuster and forever changed the way we see movies and the way world would perceive his work henceforth.

3.Martin Scorsese – Until 2007
Probably one of the most painful realities but prior to Martin Scorsese’s win for ‘The Departed’ in 2007, Scorsese’s films lost to a bunch of debatable decisions: ‘Rocky’ beat ‘Taxi Driver’ in 1976;’ Ordinary People’ beat ‘Raging Bull’ in 1980; and in 1990, ‘Dances with Wolves’ beat ‘Goodfellas’. If you really want to think hard on it, Kevin Costner got an Oscar for his directorial skills much before Scorsese. That’s a tough one to digest.

4.The Dark Knight – (2008)
I’m sorry but I’m a sucker for Christopher Nolan’s work and a fan for life, for what he did to the comic character of Batman.  The Dark Knight was more than just a movie; it was an event. It managed to transcend genre and become much more than a simple comic-book movie. Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker—hideous, deranged and yet hugely charismatic—is one for the ages. The fact that it got overlooked to be nominated for the Best Picture will always be just plain sad.

5.Saving Private Ryan – (1999)
No one would question the fact that Shakespeare was a great writer, but thou should consider 1999′s slightly-above average Shakespeare in Love defeating Steven Spielberg’s WWII-epic Saving Private Ryan a war crime. Don’t you think?

6.Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo (1958)
‘Vertigo’ is Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece, and it features Jimmy Stewart’s finest performance. It’s also rumoured to be Hitchcock’s most personal film; the idea of a man remaking a woman in the image of another he’s lost, is often said to reflect the Hitchcock’s decision to keep casting Grace Kelly-esque blondes after feeling abandoned by Kelly, who retired from acting in 1956. So, what did ‘Vertigo’ get at the Oscars? Squat; except for a few minor technical nominations. It clearly got overlooked for the Best Picture, Best Director as well as the Best Actor nominations.

The list actually deserves to be longer but it might take an entire day to discuss our anguish, pain and sheer shock. Until then, we can just hope that the academy starts learning from the mistakes it’s made in the past.