Director Pan Nalin opens up on sharp reactions to Chhello Show being India's entry to Oscars, not RRR | Exclusive

Pan Nalin-directed Gujarati film Chhello Show, titled Last Film Show in English, a coming-of-age drama about a young boy's love affair with cinema, is India's official entry for the 95th Academy Awards. The film is all set to release in theatres countrywide on October 14. Chhello Show, which will represent the country in the best international feature film category at the Oscars is produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur's banner Roy Kapur Films, Jugaad Motion Pictures, Monsoon Films, Chhello Show LLP and Marc Duale.

Ahead of the film's release in India, we caught up with director Pan Nalin and Dheer Momaya of Jugaad Motion Pictures and spoke to them about Last Film Chow getting picked as India's official entry to the Oscars over popular films such as SS Rajamouli's RRR, Vivek Agnihotri's The Kashmir Files and R Madhavan's directorial debut Rocketry and more.

In a freewheeling chat when we at DNA asked him if the feeling of Last Film Show being picked as India's official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the Oscars had sunk in yet, to which expressing his joy, Pan Nalin said, "Am super excited, super thrilled, and happy. Every film is a labour of love and passion. I don't know how other films are made, but this one is made with years of hard work. The team has worked like a close-knit family, putting in so much passion, man hours and love, always believing in the film. It is such a great cast and crew that I always wondered what will be the way to recognize their hard work. This decision coming from FFI that we are India's official entry to the Oscars was the first joy. And second joy, of course, was that a lot of distributors who worldwide are acquiring our film way before we even submitted it, they also got reassurance that okay, what we bought, what we are going to release in our own country be it Italy or Japan or America, we have something good in our hand, which is now being sent as India's entry to the Oscars. So of course, super thrilled."

Dheer Momaya added, "We are honoured and excited to be India as a country, and we feel the responsibility to carry the hopes of the entire nation to win the award. But to answer your question, if the feeling has sunk in yet? Every day is a new day. Every time you think that the feeling has sunk in something new arises, and someone else tweets, someone else reaches out from the industry and outside and supports us. So, it's very heartwarming, and really just a pleasure to see that there's so much support that's coming across the board. So every day is a new day. And you know, every day brings new excitement."

Ask Pan Nalin for his opinion on the sharp reactions when SS Rajamouli-directed film was snubbed and Last Film Show picked as India's entry to the Oscars, he politely said, "My opinion is super simple. We are a huge nation and pretty complex when it comes to cinema. If you look around, there's is no other country that has a cinema like ours. In South Korea, it's very easy to choose one Korean film and send it as an Oscar entry, in France it's easy to pick one French language film, but how do you deal with India? I really respect the Film Federation of India and the jury because it's a mammoth task they undertake as we have films being made in several languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Assamese, and Hindi, the list is endless. So, my reaction is very simple...whatever decision the jury has made, I totally respect it."

He added, "Secondly, our movie Chhello Show hasn't been released yet. It's going to release on the 14 of October, so people can't even pick sides because no one has seen the movie so you can't blame people that their popular, favourite films were not there (picked as Oscar entry). There are people who must have loved different types of films and different types of stars since passion runs very high when it comes to cinema in your country."

Pan Nalin further said, "But this is not only unique to India. Every time each country announces their selection, there is a certain amount of controversy and disappointment."

Adding that anyone could submit their film to be considered as a nomination in the general catergories, Pan Nalin said, "People very often forget the Academy is an American organization designed to give awards to American movies. It happens to have a small award section called International features, it's not the main thing. However, the Academy's main category, the general category is open to everyone. Any filmmaker from around the world, a producer, a studio can open their film in LA County, and apply and submit it as a general submission, you don't have to wait for a country to submit it. If you have confidence in your film, anyone can do it."

Chhello Show's story is inspired by Nalin's own memories of falling in love with movies as a child in rural Gujarat. Set in a remote rural village of Saurashtra, the film tells the story of a nine-year-old boy who begins a lifelong love affair with cinema when he bribes his way into a rundown movie palace and spends a summer watching movies from the projection booth.

Nalin, best known for directing critically-acclaimed films Samsara, Valley of Flowers and Angry Indian Goddesses, is now looking at making it to the final five and winning the Oscar for his film and India.

The last Indian film that made it to the final five was the Aamir Khan-led Lagaan in 2001. Mother India (1958) and Salaam Bombay (1989) are the other two Indian movies to have made it to the top five.

The 95th Academy Awards are scheduled to occur on March 12, 2023, in Los Angeles.