Decoded: India’s official film entries @ Oscars

In 1958, Mother India – India’s first official entry to the Oscars – was the closest the country came to winning an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Film category. The film, directed by Mehboob Khan, lost out by a single vote during the third poll to Federico Fellini’s Le notti di Cabiria (Nights Of Cabiria), in the category created the year before. From 1957 to 2021, among all official entries from India only three films have received nominations – Mother India, Salaam Bombay! and Lagaan.No Indian entry ever won the prize, while no Indian official submissions have received nominations since Lagaan in 2002.

SO, WHY DON’T INDIAN FILMS MAKE THE CUT?
In 2019, during his India visit, thenPresident of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences John Bailey was asked this question multiple times. He replied, “I don’t mean to be rude, but why are Indian films not widely shown? Not just in Hollywood or the US, but worldwide. I know they are very popular in China, but are they popular in Korea or Japan? Are they popular in Southeast Asia? Are the French watching Indian films? Your PR organisations, your distributors, your government need to be asked why – ‘Why can’t Indian films be promoted across the world? The films that we are submitting, do they speak to other countries?’ I don’t know. But one thing you can do is to have an internal dialogue here, among yourselves. ”
In 2010, Anurag Kashyap, who had been on various international film festival juries by that time, told TOI, “We need to make a film of international standards. We need a jury that is not chosen by the Film Federation of India (FFI) but by people who understand international cinema and are exposed to it. . . Most times, our films are just not good enough. ’’

HOW ARE INDIAN ENTRIES IN THE INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM CATEGORY SELECTED?
India’s Oscar entry is picked by an 11-member independent jury set up by the Film Federation of India. However their selection process is never disclosed. Suparn Sen General Secretary, FFI says, “Rules state that the film should be Indian, second – it should reflect the culture of the country, and third – the language should be dominantly spoken in the country. ” However, official Indian submissions have generated controversy over the years.
Ahead of the 2021 Oscars, The New York Times’ film critics listed Chaitanya Tamhane’s The Disciple in their Oscar picks lists. Film critic Manohla Dargis picked the Marathi film for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, while AO Scott selected Aditya Modak for Best Actor. But The Disciple was not India’s official submission, neither was Jai Bhim, which some critics were in favour of. The Tamil film Pebbles was eventually selected as India’s official entry in the category.
In recent months, the film that has been creating a buzz in the West is RRR and in a recent interview, Anurag Kashyap said, “They (the West) find it (RRR) better than any Marvel movie. They’ve really gone crazy for it, even the silliness of it. And they are so blown away not only by the action sequences, but also the dance sequences. The West sees RRR differently than how we see it, and they’ve loved it. If RRR becomes the India selection, 99% it might get nominated for the Academy Award. That is the impact that the film has had in the world of Hollywood. India might actually have a nomination in the final five, if RRR is the film that we pick. I don’t know what film anybody is going to pick. ”