Actor-director Ben Affleck's Argo continued its dominance as it beat heavyweights like Lincoln and Life of Pi to clinch the Oscars for Best Picture here on Sunday.

The 1979 hostage thriller set in Iran, Argo had earlier won the BAFTA and Golden Globes this year. Argo is a dramatization of and is based on a 2007 article about the "Canadian Caper", in which Tony Mendez, a CIA operative, led the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran, during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.

After receiving the honour, an emotional Ben Affleck thanked his entire cast and crew and anyone associated with Argo.

Ben and his co-producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov were on cloud nine as they enjoyed the standing ovation while Ben thanked his wife for working on their marriage.

'It is work but it's the best kind of work and there is nobody else I would rather do that kind of work with," said Affleck.

A teary eyed Ben Affleck said: `I was here 10 years ago and I had no idea what I was doing, I was really just a kid, I never thought I would be here again. You have to work harder than you think you possibly can."

`You can't hold grudges - it's hard but you can't hold grudges and it doesn't matter how you get knocked down in life, because that's going to happen, you've just got to get back up.`

The best actor honour was however bagged by Daniel Day-Lewis for his role in 'Lincoln' where he played U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in the film.


Jennifer Lawrence clinched the Oscar for Best Actress for the film "Silver Linings Playbook."

The other winner of the night is Ang Lee who won his second Oscar for Best Directing (Life of Pi). Apart from the Best Direction award, 'Life of Pi' also bagged two more awards for Visual Effects and Cinematography ( Claudio Miranda).


The 3D film is based on a fantasy adventure novel by Yann Marte where, the protagonist, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

The Best Foriegn film award went to French-language drama film "Amour", which is written and directed by the Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert.


The narrative focuses on an elderly couple, Anne and Georges, who are retired music teachers with a daughter who lives abroad.

The 'Best Supporting Actor' was bagged by Christoph Waltz for his performance in the film 'Django Unchained', while Anne Hathaway carried home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her for a mother-turned-prostitute role in Tom Hooper's musical 'Les Miserables'.

The Oscar Winner list:

Best Picture: Argo

Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Directing: Ang Lee, Life of Pi

Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz

Animated Short Film: Paper Man

Animated Feature Film: Brave

Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi

Visual Effects: Life of Pi

Costume Design: Anna Karenina

Makeup and Hairstyling: Les Miserables

Live Action Short Film: Curfew

Documentary Short Subject: Innocente

Documentary Feature: Searching for Sugar Man

Foreign Language Film: Amour

Sound Mixing: Les Miserables


Sound Editing: Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall (A tie)

Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway

Film Editing: Argo

Production Design: Lincoln

Original Score: Life of Pi

Original Song: Sky Fall

Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio, Argo

Original Screenplay:Quentin Tarantion, Django Unchained