Oscar beckons! Rajkummar Rao to station himself in Los Angeles

Amit Masurkar’s Newton, India’s official entry to the Oscars, has been granted Rs 1 crore by the Government..

‘It was most unexpected’

Newton’s much-feted lead Rajkummar Rao agrees this is an unusual largesse from the powers-that-be. “It was unexpected. But certainly needed. I spoke to the relevant official and he assured me of all possible support and cooperation in our journey to the Oscars. We, my director and I, had no idea as to how to proceed to the Oscars. The Government’s fund has opened up doors. Now we just need to walk through those doors.”

Let’s plan

The question is, how? “Well,” dwells Raj, “We need to sit down and chalk out a plan. My producers Munish Mundra and Aanand Rai will be meeting up with people who have experience in taking  our cinema to the Oscars.” Aamir Khan and Anil Kapoor should expect a call.

Chalo America

The actor, who has wrapped up yet another challenging role as Subhas Chandra Bose, admits, he will have to take time off to be in the US for the very serious process of lobbying that preludes the Oscar nominations in the US. “I understand, I have to be in America for a while and I am prepared to take time off. It is pointless to expect Newton to make the cut without our effort. We need to  push our film to the furthest point possible.”

“The plagiarism charge changes nothing for Newton,” says Film Federation Chief

After the announcement of Newton as official Indian entry to the Oscars, a sudden plagiarism charge and a debate on its eligibility has blown up.

Supran Sen, the Secretary-General  of the Film Federation Of India, which selects the film to go to the Oscars, says, “The Iranian film has been around for 16 years. Newton was premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February.

If at all there were similarities between Newton and the other film, why didn’t anyone notice it? Why did this question suddenly come up after the film was selected by us to go to the Oscars?” 

Sen says this controversy doesn’t change anything for the film. “No rule for the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars states that any likeness to any other film in any form is a disqualification. We’ve full faith in the team behind the film and we stand by the film, as of now.”