On Tuesday, the Film Federation of India (FFI) announced Gujarati coming-of-age drama Chhello Show as India's official entry for the 95th Academy Awards.
Titled 'Last Film Show' in English, the movie, directed by Pan Nalin, will release in theatres countrywide on October 14. "Chhello Show is India's official entry for Oscars 2023," FFI Secretary General Supran Sen told PTI.
The film is produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur's banner Roy Kapur Films, Jugaad Motion Pictures, Monsoon Films, Chhello Show LLP, and Marc Duale.
The movie, which features Bhavin Rabari, Bhavesh Shrimali, Richa Meena, Dipen Raval and Paresh Mehta, had its world premiere as the opening film at the Tribeca Film Festival in June last year. The film is inspired by Nalin's own memories of falling in love with movies as a child in rural Gujarat.
It won multiple awards during its festival run, including the Golden Spike at the 66th Valladolid Film Festival in Spain where it also enjoyed commercial success during its theatrical run.
However, there were assumptions that Vivek Agnihotri's film The Kasmir Files or SS Rajamouli's RRR which starred Jr NTR and Ram Charan will be India's entry for the Oscars 2023.
Earlier, when Anupam Kher was asked to comment on Anurag Kashyap's comment that he hopes The Kashmir Files is not picked as India's entry at the Oscars, Kher first refused to comment and then said, "Kaun hai woh, kaun hai Anurag Kashyap?" sarcastically as he added that this is what the media wanted to listen.
Anupam then seriously answered, "Main Anurag Kashyap ki bataur filmmaker bahut izzat karta hoon, bahut ache director hain. Par unka certificate thodi chahiye humko, woh koi certificate thoda baant rahe hain ki yeh achhe hain aur yeh achhe nahi hain. Humein janta ne saraaha hai aur hum uske liye bahut khush kismat hain (I respect Anurag Kashyap a lot as a filmmaker, he is a really good director. But we don't need his certificate, he is not distributing certificates as to this film is good and this film is bad. We have been praised by the audience and we consider ourselves really lucky for that)".
READ | Vivek Agnihotri reacts to Anurag Kashyap not wanting The Kashmir Files to be picked as India's entry at Oscars
For the unversed, while talking about the SS Rajamouli-directed RRR's impact on the West, Kashyap told Galatta Plus, "The west sees RRR differently than what we see, and they have loved RRR. If RRR becomes India's selection, 99% it might get nominated at the Academy Awards. That's the impact RRR has had on 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. I hope not Kashmir Files."
(With inputs from PTI)
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