Jury ‘screens’ films at city cinema for India’s Oscar entry, verdict today

Kolkata: All eyes are set on Kolkata’s Bijoli cinema, where a panel of 15 judges has been watching 14 Indian films, from which one will be selected on Saturday. Filmmaking nations across the globe have been announcing the names of their respective entries to the Best International Feature Film for Oscars 2022. Bangladesh has already nominated Abdullah Mohammad Saad’s ‘Rehana Maryam Noor’.According to Firdausul Hasan, who is the vice-president of the Film Federation of India, there was a specific reason for choosing a single screen theatre in the city as the venue for screening. “Cinema is meant for the big screen, though the pandemic has come as a huge jolt. The single screen theatres, in particular, were badly impacted. We could have easily done the screenings at any auditorium in the city. But we made a conscious choice to host the five-day screenings at Bijoli to show our solidarity to the single screens,” he said.In 2019, the Oscar jury chaired by Aparna Sen also had the same venue, though it had shifted online in 2020. The return to Bijoli for screening has overwhelmed its owner, Suranjan Paul. “Survival of single-screen theatres is difficult during the pandemic. This theatre was built by my grandfather in 1935 and has been witness to some historic moments, including special shows of Satyajit Ray’s ‘Piku’ and ‘Sadgati’, the release of Ritwik Ghatak’s ‘Jukti Tokko Aar Goppo’ and Rituparno Ghosh’s ‘Unishe April’. The presence of the august jury members watching great films here is giving a right signal to the audience,” he said.Four jury members from Kolkata — music composer-turned-director Indraadip Dasgupta, editor Arghyakamal Mitra, actor Ananya Chatterjee, costume designer Ruma Sengupta — are in the panel chaired by Shaji N Karun. Among the 14 contenders are Pan Nalin’s ode to movie-going and movie-making, ‘Chhello Show’ (‘Last Film Show’), Shoojit Sircar’s historical drama, ‘Sardar Udham’, Madonne Ashwin’s Tamil poll satire, ‘Mandela’, Martin Prakkat’s political thriller, ‘Nayattu’ and Pushpendra Singh’s allegorical feminist fairy tale, ‘Laila Aur Satt Geet’. Others in contention include ‘Bridge’ (Assamese), ‘Sherni’ (Hindi), ‘Shershah’ (Hindi), ‘Kagaz’ (Hindi), ‘Aata Vel Zaali’ (Marathi), ‘Toofan’ (Hindi), ‘Godavari’ (Marathi), ‘Karkhanisanchi Waari’ (Marathi) and ‘Koozhangal’ (Tamil).The competition is tough but all the makers are hopeful. “My story is raw and my film reveals the true picture of rural India. There is an optimistic message too,” said ‘Bridge’ director Kripal Kalita about his first feature film. Among the contenders, ‘Laila Aur Satt Geet’ was the only one in competition at the Kolkata International Film Festival this year. From January 9 next year, Museum of Modern Art will open it in New York for a week. “My film deals with issues around migration, feminism within a marginalized community under a conflict zone. This makes the film more contemporary. Its release in the US and Museum of Modern Art will draw the attention further to the film. All this makes us really hopeful,” said the director.