HYDERABAD: Hindi language black comedy film
Newton
, which was selected as India’s entry for the Oscars by the jury in Hyderabad on Friday, will become the first film to receive a grant of `1 crore from the Centre.
“The amount is being given to encourage good and meaningful cinema,” chairman of the jury C V Reddy told TOI on Friday.
The 14-member jury headed by well-known Telugu film producer-director C V Reddy watched 26 entries in different languages in the last one week to select the
Oscar entry
. Telugu films, Bahubali 2: The Conclusion directed by S S Rajamouli and Balakrishna-starrer Gautamiputra Satakarni were among the entries. There were 12 films in Hindi, five in Marathi, two each in Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and
Malayalam
and one in Tamil which were in contention for the Oscar nomination.
“Newton” which hit the theatres on Friday – the day the announcement happened to be made – is a political satire. Actor
Rajkummar Rao, who plays the lead character in the film, expressed happiness about it being selected for the Oscars. “Very happy to share this news that Newton is India’s official entry to the Oscars this year,” he tweeted. When asked why the jury selected “Newton”, the jury chairman C V Reddy said the film had a good subject that was handled well and also for being high on technical values. “It was an unanimous decision,” he said on the selection of the film. “Newton” is directed by Amit V Masurkar and is produced by Drishyam films.
Film Federation of India chairman C Kalyan was present when it was announced that Newton was selected as India’s entry for the best foreign film category award for the Oscars.The screenings for Oscar selections have been held in the city for the last five years but will shift to Chennai from next year. A new building of the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce has got ready there consisting of preview theatres having the latest equipment.
Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyde...
Read MoreSushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.
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