The preparations for the 94th Academy award, which is scheduled to be held in March 2022 in Los Angeles, California are in full swing in the Indian cinema.
The 15 jury members of the Film Federation of India, at the Bijoli cinema in Bhowanipore, Kolkata, are busy watching the 14 shortlisted movies from around India to select the final one to be represented at Oscar 2022.
The list includes many regional films, but two have been listed from Bollywood which include Shoojit Sircar’s ‘Sardar Udham‘, and Amit V. Masurkar’s ‘Sherni’. Apart from this, a Tamil film “Mandela”, and a Malayalam film “ Nayattu” have also made it to the list of 14 movies.
“Sardar Udham”, starring Vicky Kaushal is a story of a young rebellion against the cruel culprits of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. He plays the role of the freedom fighter Sardar Udham Singh whose roaming around the streets of London with boiling blood and revenge in his mind.
Vidya Balan’s “Sherni” is a story of a forest officer who is trying to resolve man-animal conflicts in a forest. The movie also features Vijay Raaz, Ila Arun, Neeraj Kabi, Sharat Saxena, and Brijendra Kala. Both the movies are currently running on Amazon Prime Video.
The 14 films which got shortlisted for the Oscar race from India. pic.twitter.com/w5ug8NhdRH
— LetsCinema (@letscinema) October 24, 2021
‘Sherni’(Hindi), ‘Shershaah’(Hindi), ‘Chello Show’(Gujarati), ‘Kaagaz’(Hindi), ‘Nayattu’ (Malayalam), ‘Toofan’(Hindi), ‘Bridge’(Assamese), ‘Aur Saat Geet’(Gojri), ‘Atta Vel Zaali’(Marathi), ‘Godavari’ (Marathi), ‘Karkhanisanchi Waari’ (Marathi) are in this list, jury members selected Tamil film Koozhangle.
The jury team selected the Tamil film Koozhangal out of these 14 films, this is the story of a poor family where a drunken guy beats his wife.
Koozhangal beats other low-budget movies like Madonne Ashwin’s directorial debut “Mandela” is a political satire. The story revolves around the life of a Dalit barber who changes his name to Mandela. The next one directed by Martin Prakkat, “ Nayattu” features the story of police officers who have been framed and are trying to escape it.
The jury team is headed by the filmmaker Shaji N Karun, who is the chairman of the panel and out of the 14 movies shortlisted, only one of them will make it to Oscar 2022. Last year, Lijo Jose Pelliserry’s Malayalam movie “Jalikattu” was selected to represent India at the Oscars. Karishma Dev Dube’s “ Bittu” was featured in the ‘best live-action short’ category.
