Hollywood filmmaker Mark Osborne, who helmed the animated martial arts comedy film Kung Fu Panda, led the Master Class session on the topic 'Animation as a Tool for Expression' at the International Film Festival of India, which is being held in Goa from Sunday, November 20 to Monday, November 28.
In an interview with Rolling Stone India, Mark lauded SS Rajamouli's period-action blockbuster RRR and the Gujarati film Last Film Show, which has been selected as India's official entry to the Oscars next year. When he was asked about the Indian film industry, the director said, "I am not an expert but recently I watched the movie that has been submitted for the Oscars, Last Film Show. I was absolutely blown away. It is an extraordinary film and it told me a lot about the impact of cinema on Indian culture and how important a part it plays in society. But I have to watch a lot more."
Praising Ram Charan and Jr NTR starrer RRR, he continued, "I also watched RRR. That popped up on Netflix and I had no idea what we were about to experience. My wife and I watched it and we could not believe our eyes. We had to actually go and watch it in the movie theatre a second time! The imagery was just mind-blowing."
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When Osborne was further asked if the two Indian films would be able to win Oscars, he added, "As a voter and an Academy member, I would expect that both would become part of the conversation. I was so moved by Last Film Show. I was not expecting the experience at all. It was quite stunning. I am yet to get the cultural specificity of RRR. I need a deeper understanding of where the film came from and how it emerged. But it hit me like a popcorn movie, and it hit me hard! It made me sit up and realize that I need to watch more Indian movies, and I need to start right away!".
Though the Film Federation of India hasn't picked RRR as its official entry for the Best International Feature Film, the Telugu film's distributors in the United States are spearheading an active campaign for RRR to get nominations in multiple major categories at the 95th Academy Awards in 2023.
