After going virtual last year, award season lovers rejoiced as the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards 2021 teleported everyone back to the red carpet. With the viewers favourites taking the gleaming golden trophy home, The Crown, Ted Lasso and Mare of Easttown snatched a whopping ten out of the 12 acting awards. The Los Angeles event was  a celebratory one for the British actors of England-set shows.

Netflix's original, The Crown, true to its name, started collecting its jewels and swept the show with 11 big wins. The drama, initially tied with The Mandalorian for the most-nominated drama series, leapt forward in the race to win all the major categories along with the writing and directing accolades, and the creative arts Emmys.

The Iron Lady turned golden as Gillian Anderson's phenomenal performance in The Crown as Margaret Thatcher won her the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a drama series. Olivia Colman who played the Queen, bagged the award of Outstanding Actress. And lastly, Josh O’Connor who essayed Prince Charles claimed the golden laurel in the Outstanding Lead Actor.

On the comedy front, Apple TV+ original Ted Lasso, which was leading with 20 nominations, claimed four trophies including the Lead actress and actor and Supporting actress and actor. In the Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, the immensely successful Netflix drama, The Queen’s Gambit, won the prize but left the audience feeling a little bitter-sweet when the lead actress Anya Taylor-Joy lost the award to Kate Winslet for Mare of Easttown.

The unabashed joy of the actors was enough to make one's Sunday night, be it Ted Lasso’s Rebecca, Hannah Waddingham, screaming into the microphone before making a speech or Kate Winslet squealing with joy, "Yes! I am the winner!" One thing that was obvious was the powerful display of women who stood out with their outstanding performances.

Speaking of powerful women, Michaela Coel's well-deserved victory for I May Destroy You also made her the first Black woman to win an Emmy for writing for a limited series. As she dedicated the award to sexual assault survivors, the actress-writer pushed her fellow writers to write a tale that scares them, that makes them feel uncertain and that isn't comfortable.

While this year’s nominees were most diverse to date, #EmmysSoWhite was seen trending worldwide on Twitter as all the major acting awards were bagged by white performers. But, on a positive note, American drag queen RuPaul did make a mark on Emmy history for most wins by a person of colour as RuPaul's Drag Race won the Outstanding Competition Program category for the fourth consecutive time.

With the Primetime Emmys wrapping up, came the nominations for International Emmy Awards with its 44 nominees across 11 categories and 24 countries. India is holding its flag high in three major categories and all eyes are on the artists. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is nominated for the Best Performance by an Actor category for his Netflix movie Serious Men. In the comedy segment, Netflix comedy special Vir Das: For India has taken up a nomination. Lastly, Sushmita Sen starrer Aarya has been nominated in the Best Drama Series category. 

Last year, India had bagged the Best Drama Series trophy with Richie Mehta's goosebumps-inducing Delhi Crime. What's in store for India this year? We'll only find out on November 22. Till, then, happy guessing!