New Delhi:
We may have all been hoping for good news, but this one was no surprise missing ladies Missed the shortlist of 15 titles to be considered for nomination in the International Best Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards. However, this removal is no reflection on the intrinsic merits of the Kiran Rao film.
missing ladies There was a lot going for it, but it was not in the right place at the right time. It lost its way because it was up against a group of favorites from the international festival circuit who had debuted from the moment they were named as contenders by their respective countries.
i’m still hereThe Brazilian entry won Best Screenplay at Venice. Irish hip-hop music knees and Czech historical drama waves were audience award winners at Sundance and Karlovy Vary respectively.
We’re not even talking about Jacques Audiard here Emilia Perez or Mohammad Rasulof’s sacred fig seedA Persian language film which is an official entry of Germany.
except Emilia PerezA French production set in Mexico and filmed in Spanish, and sacred fig seedNone of the above films were preceded by global buzz like Payal Kapadia’s We imagine everything as light Was. But the all-male, fossilized Film Federation of India (FFI) jury ignored the Cannes Grand Prix winner on the grounds that it was not “Indian enough”.
This was a wonderful opportunity that was missed and not for the first time. make comparisons Avial British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s social commentary-packed Hindi-language police procedural snubbed by FFI SatisfactionThe UK’s official Oscar entry.
Satisfaction He was found to be British enough to receive the honor of being a rare UK contender in the non-English language film category at the Oscars. The India-based drama starring Shahana Goswami and Sunita Rajwar being in the Oscar shortlist is proof that cinema in itself is a language that transcends the barriers of language, culture and environment.
The selection process of choosing India’s entry for the Best International Feature Film Oscar has been the subject of ridicule for years. it’s only fair. Intelligent people (and sometimes women) who consider which film will best represent the world’s largest film-producing country at the Oscars always find ways to get it horribly wrong.
He pushed himself forward in 2013, the year he unexpectedly got a chance for Gyan Corea’s Gujarati film. good road At the expense of Ritesh Batra lunchboxThe Irrfan-Nimrat Kaur-Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer film which started its journey in Cannes and then traveled across the world.
Even in 2012, FFI found itself in a bind. It chose Anurag Basu Barfi! As India’s official Oscar entry. As expected, this film based on Asghar Farhadi’s poignant marital discord was never going to be in the news in a year. Isolation Took the Oscar home.
Last year, SS Rajamouli’s action was extraordinary RRR It was a huge hit globally and was considered a strong contender for the Best International Feature Film Oscar. FFI selected Pan Nalin’s Gujarati emerging film, chelo showinstead. Many of them who became champions RRRThe reason was that it was felt that the selection was inexcusable and it hampered any chance of India getting a fair shot at the Oscars.
In all these years, India has managed to receive only three nominations in the Best International Feature Film Oscar category – in 1957 (Mother India), 1988 (Salaam Bombay!) and 2001 (rent), Mother India Reportedly lost to Federico Fellini by a narrow margin – by one vote Nights of Cabiria.
This was also suggested without any official confirmation. rentThe eventual 2001 Oscar winner, Denis Tanovic, also attended. no man’s land, Close attractively.
Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay!, Winner of the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 1988, it is one of the better choices made by India. The film lost to Bille Auguste. conqueror pele In one year there was also Istvan Szabo hanussen and Pedro Almodovar’s Women are on the verge of nervous breakdown in the race.
By the 1970s, India’s Oscar entry selectors knew what they were doing. The films he chose included Satyajit Ray’s films poor world (1959), Metropolitan (1963) and chess players (1978), by MS Sathyu hot air (1974) and Shyam Benegal’s churn (1977). None of them went far but they were not embarrassed either.
The selection process declined rapidly in the 1990s and reached a point of absurdity, reaching its peak in 1998. That year India sent S Shankar Potboiler. Jeans For Academy Awards because Ashok Amritraj was the main producer of the film. The jury’s calculation was that because Amritraj was based in Los Angeles and had considerable influence in Hollywood, Jeans You’ll get a chance to make your way through this.
They forgot that no matter how much garbage you push, it can never turn into gold dust. Jeans It was S Shankar’s second film in three years – the first was Kamal Haasan’s Gaadi. Indian (1996) – selected as India’s official Oscar entry.
In view of the excitement regarding the Oscar nomination rent Having arisen, it was felt in some circles that the time had finally come for India to move forward and seek greater glory at the Academy Awards. But setting foot in the door proved to be a flash in the pan.
Next year in 2002 of rent FFI, in its wisdom, nominated Sanjay Leela Bhansali during his memorable performance at the Academy Awards Devdas Mani Ratnam’s place Kannathil Muthamittal ,a kiss on the cheek) or Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s mondo mayor anecdote ,A story of a naughty girlNot that any of the despised films would have earned a nomination, let alone a win, but they had far more cinematic potential.
Almost the same story was repeated in 2007. India’s official Oscar entry that year was Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Amitabh Bachchan-led multi-starrer. Eklavya , Royal Guard. Among the titles that FFI could choose from next Eklavya it was from Deepa Mehta Water, The third film of his Elements trilogy.
To be fair, there have been many years when the FFI backed the most deserving horse and raised hopes of success. In 1994, Shekhar Kapur’s international success bandit queen Earned approval. In 2015, it was the turn of Chaitanya Tamhane’s critically acclaimed festival hit court,
The very next year, India sent a complaint against Vetrimaaran. spread out For Oscar. In 2017, FFI got it right once again by electing Amit V Masurkar newtonWhich was premiered in the Forum section of the Berlin Film Festival at the beginning of the year.
In 2021, another Tamil film, from debutant PS Vinothraj Koozhangal ,pebbles), winner of the Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, made the cut. But smaller films with limited resources often lack the means to lobby adequately to attract the attention of Academy members.
Granted, it’s not a level playing field, but if the FFI had a better idea of ​​things, India’s wait for the Best International Feature Film Oscar could have ended this year.
