The great Indian Oscar tamasha

For the first time in years, India’s official entry to the Oscars – the Marathi film Court – has not generated dissent among the film industry folks. It seems to have managed to avoid the annual fuss created over which film is ‘worthy’...
Can Chaitanya Tamhane’s National-award winning Marathi film Court do for India what Lagaan or Mother India could not? That is, bring home the Oscar.After beating this year’s biggies like Bahubali, PK, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Masaan and being selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language category, hopes are high for this multilingual arthouse drama. Bollywood’s bigwigs are known for sulking over the non-selection of their films as India’s official entry, but surprisingly, this time, the verdict for Court, has not tickled the disgruntled ones, but the selection team instead. Filmmaker Rahul Rawail, who was a member of the Oscar jury headed by filmmaker Amol Palekar, resigned from his position and tweeted, “Jst wanna clarify tht am proud of Court n fully support its selection. I resigned from the Oscar jury bcoz of Mr Palekars obnoxious behaviour” (sic).

India’s annual Oscar entry row
The Oscar Riddle decoded In the last 60 years, only three films have made the cut till the final round – Mother India, Salaam Bombay and Lagaan. Being nominated thrice but not winning even once, has remained a nasoor for desi cinema. But the selection of an Oscar entry every year is like a repeat telecast of the same controversies over and over. We bring you a few of the most memorable controversies from over the years.
2014: Liar’s Dice in, Shahid, Mary Kom out
Last year, Geethu Mohandas’ Hindi film Liar’s Dice,was selected as India’s entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 2015 Oscars. The film featured Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Geetanjali Thapa as the protagonists. It was pitted against films like Shahid, Queen and Mary Kom.
Whether the film was deserving or not was decided at the Oscars, where it didn’t get even one nomination. Filmmaker Hansal Mehta slammed the Film Federation of India (FFI) and its selection process with his tweets, “Apparently, Liar’s Dice was released last week in Kerala and Pune. About time this whole Oscar entry business is taken away from FFI, and a more transparent process is followed by a more qualified body. Disillusioned with the FFI, but consoled that at least a good film has been chosen to represent India at the Oscars. All the best. The bitterness is not about the selection. It could have been any film. The selection is on the basis of a mere technicality. It makes you question the process and the individuals involved. Why is there a ‘secret jury’? Why are the jury names never revealed?” Even filmmaker Rajat Kapoor tweeted about this, saying, “There is a particular way in which the West looks at our films. Then we go a step ahead and try and guess what film they might want from us!”
READ: Marathi film 'Court' is India's entry for Oscars
2013: The lunchbox loses to the Good Road
The Lunchbox was considered to be a warm, all-is-well kind of movie that could have grabbed the statuette for the best in world cinema and seemed to be a clear choice from India, until Gyan Correa’s Gujarati film The Good Road was selected. What followed after, was a long-drawn battle.Ritesh Batra, director of The Lunchbox, wrote a letter to the Film Federation of India (FFI), which read, “I sincerely hope that the annual reactions to our Academy selections from the national press, and this year from even the international press, prompt a new policy for selections. Sir, please use your good offices to give us a transparent, objective process with a public and not a secret jury. It is a direct and humble request, not a criticism.” As the film was produced under a big banner, chances of it having been selected were greater, which the filmmakers have mentioned a number of times.
However, this time the FFI was ready to fight fire with fire. They responded promptly saying, “You and the team have been stating time and again in various interactions with the media that once (note not ‘if’ but once!) Lunchbox is selected, you have been assured by Sony Classics that it will have a spectacular run at the Oscars! You in fact have even termed this selection of The Lunchbox from India as a mere technicality! Excuse me !!!! What we are very interested in knowing is how you are making such claims? How can Sony Classics assure you of any such thing? Are you suggesting that the Oscars are rigged? We are taking this matter up separately with the Academy.”
Anurag Kashyap, producer of the film, expressed his disappointment in an editorial, which read, “I have lost faith in everything because of the Film Federation of India’s decision to send The Good Road to the Oscars, not because it is a bad film - I’ve not seen it; it may be a good film but because I have realised that the community of independent filmmakers in India are essentially crabs in a basket; they cannot bear to see a film or a filmmaker do well.” Kashyap went on to delete his Facebook account after the episode. Even Ship Of Theseus, an independent movie which was critically acclaimed, was rejected.

2012: Barfi! wins, Paan Singh Tomar, Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 & 2 lose
Anyone who has closely followed the pattern of India’s official entry to the Oscars can tell you that we send only those films which portray India as sweet as Barfi!, literally! Films about gang wars that show the rustic side of the country, as in Gangs Of Wasseypur (GOW), never make it, regardless of how good these films are.The fact that certain scenes in Barfi! had been plagiarized in the name of paying a “tribute” (which was not once mentioned in the credits). This was the first time a director spoke up against his producers. Director Shoojit Sircar was so disappointed with the producers for not sending Vicky Donor for selections, that he said, “I’m very disheartened, disappointed and angry that one of this year’s most original high-concept stories was not even considered by the producers of the film to be sent for the Oscar jury’s consideration. “ On the selection of Barfi! over GOW, Anurag Kashyap in an interview with us, said, “The thing is, it was quite clear that if Barfi! is entered, Barfi! will go.
A GOW will never be selected from a country like India. None of my films will, for that matter. Because, our morality will not allow us to represent that, to endorse it. Our Indian morality is such that it will not endorse a GOW on an international platform. Jo film international platform pe jaati hai, because hum log bechte hain, aur woh log lete hain, it becomes a film ‘from India’, but India is not going to endorse my film, because unka yeh hota hai ki, arre, hum aaise hain, hum log gaali dete hain? Hum log maarte hain? Hum log violent hain? Our morality will always stop us."

2010: Peepli Live selected over Udaan
This year we had some of the juiciest insults hurled at a filmmaker, the target being none other than Aamir Khan. Sanjay Singh, producer of Udaan, was quite unhappy with the selection of Peepli Live over Udaan. He said, “Peepli Live is good, but to say that it is deserving of India’s entry to the Oscars is open to debate. While the subject of farmer’s suicide was dealt with in an interesting way, the media issue has been seen in some hundred-odd movies these days. There was nothing new about it. Only merit plays an important role in the selection of films for the Best Foreign Language film category at the Oscars. Why are movies being judged because of the presence of an actor? When will we realise that in the West it is the director and the script that plays an integral part in defining a film’s success?”
2007: Eklavya over Chak De. Seriously?!
Forget the slamming of directors, in the case of the selection of Eklavya – The Royal Guard as India’s entry to the Oscars, it was the Bombay High Court which issued a notice to the Film Federation of India calling them ‘prima facie biased’. The petition was filed by Bhavana Talwar, director of Dharm, which lost the entry to Oscars when FFI decided to send Eklavya. Not only was the film chosen instead of Chak De! India, Gandhi My Father and Guru, it was also one of the biggest flops of the year. Pahlaj Nihalani, producer, said, “It is disgraceful that the jury has selected a movie for the Oscars which has been rejected by the people. I don’t see any logic behind it.”
Twitter reactions on the Court verdict
#court is undeniably a great decision! One off the best films I have seen this year...fingers crossed for its victorious journey ahead...— Karan Johar (@karanjohar) September 23, 2015
Congratulations @CourtTheFilm! India is finally sending the right film to the Oscar selections. Superb! — Neeraj Ghaywan (@ghaywan) September 23, 2015
Congratulations to the team of #Court on being #India’s entry to the #Oscars. Very well deserved. — Ranvir Shorey (@RanvirShorey) September 23, 2015

2006: Rang De Basanti
chosen over
Lage Raho Munnabhai
The fact that Rang De Basanti was chosen over Lage Raho Munnabhai, didn’t go down very well with many. So much so, that the latter was sent to the Oscars independently. At the time, producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra had said, “The record number of fan mails that we have received worldwide have supported our belief and inspired us to go ahead with sending the film across to the Academy as an independent entry. We strongly believe that Lage Raho Munnabhai is a film that should be screened at all international film festivals.” Again, neither of the films were nominated for an Oscar.

2005: Paheli over Mangal Pandeyand Black
Paheli’s selection as the Indian entry at the Oscars had triggered off another controversy. There were suggestions that films like Black, Parineeta, Page 3, Iqbal, and Swades be sent, but these suggestions were ignored. The same year Mahesh Dattani’s Morning Raga was sent independently to the Oscars. Page 3 director Madhur Bhandarkar said, “I don’t want it to sound like a case of sour grapes. I did have expectations after Page 3 won the National Award, but we must accept the decision.” Actor Makrand Deshpande told us back then, “Why does India’s entry at the Oscars have to have songs and colours galore so as to cater to the Western idea of Indian-ness? The subject matter of Paheli is great, but there is no excuse for its execution.” However, neither Paheli, nor Morning Raga were nominated for an Oscar.
2002: The Bhagat Singh, Devdas debate
Devdas was all about love, culture, tradition and grand musical numbers – the kind of image that India wants to portray abroad. So, it is clear why Devdas beat The Legend Of Bhagat Singh to the Oscars.
1998: Jeans over Satya
Ram Gopal Verma’s Satya is considered a cult movie till date. However, the film couldn’t get an entry to Oscars, losing the race to none other than Jeans. In several interviews, Manoj Bajpayee has mentioned that he had lost faith in Oscar entries from that year on.
Separate entry to Oscars due to a loss of faith?
Jahnu Barua had sent his 2005 movie Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara after it failed to get a nomination nMahesh Dattani’s Morning Raga was sent independently to the Oscars when Paheli got officially nominated. In 2006, when Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti was nominated, Vidhu Vinod Chopra sent his film Lage Raho Munnabhai as an independent entry. In 2012, Nila Madhab Panda’s film Jalpari – The Desert Mermaid was sent as a direct entry to the Oscars. Director Girish Malik sent his National Award-winning film Jal as a direct entry in 2014 National Award-winning film Dhag was also sent to Oscars as an independent entry in 2014.
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WATCH: ​Court (2015) - International Trailer [HD]