India’s official submission for the 95th Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category is the Gujarati film Last Film Show (Chhello Show). The current media buzz over SS Rajamouli’s RRR and Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files being the leading candidates for the honour is put to rest in this way.
There was no disagreement on which movie should be submitted to the Oscars, according to T P. Aggarwal, President of the Film Federation of India, which chooses India’s Oscar entry each year.
“The entire time, it was Pan Nalin’s movie Last Film Show. The selection jury was unanimous in its decision for the first time in this case, according to Aggarwal.
India at the Oscars – 10 POINTS
- Up till now, only 3 Indians have made it to the shortlist for the best foreign film unfortunately, none of them returned with the golden statuette.
- Though in 2019, producer Guneet Monga’s documentary “period. end of sentence.” won the oscar in the documentary short subject category.
- Mehboob Khan’s Mother India was nominated in the best foreign film category in 1958.
- Indian-born producer-director Ismail Merchant’s films were nominated four times:
The creation of woman for the best short subject (live-action) (1961)
A room with a view for best picture (1987)
Howards end for best picture (1993)
The remains of the day for best picture in (1994)
- Director Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s “An encounter with faces” (1979) was nominated for best documentary (short subject.)
- Costume designer Bhanu Athaiya became the first Indian to win an Oscar for Gandhi in 1983
- Dir. Satyajit ray received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement in 1992.
- Dir. Ashutosh Gowarikar’s period cricket drama Lagaan lost to No man’s land in 2002.
- 18-year-old writer-director Ashvin Kumar became the youngest Indian Oscar nominee for “Little Terrorist,” nominated in the best short subject (live-action) category
- At the 81st academy awards in 2009, AR Rahman brought two Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire
He won the best original score honour
He won the best original song honour
The same film fetched Gulzar an oscar for penning Jai ho and Resul Pookutty an oscar for best sound mixing. Though the British drama Slumdog Millionaire was criticised by some for its one-sided portrayal.
Some critics argue that a running thread with Indian films Nominated at the Oscars is poverty. They claim western audiences are more open to appreciating visions of India as a poor country.
In 2013, Bombay Jayashri’s lyrics for Life of Pi song Pi’s lullaby earned her an oscar nomination too.
The Tamil film Iravin Nizhal, Rocketry (Hindi,Tamil), Ariyippu (Malayalam), The Kashmir Files (Hindi), Badhaai Do (Hindi), RRR (Telugu), Jhund (Hindi), Brahmastra (Hindi), Sthalam (Telugu), Aparajito (Bengali), Anek (Hindi), and Semkhor are among the other names that were considered (Dimasa).
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