Court's Oscar nomination: Five Marathi films that should have been nominated over the years

Debutant Chaitanya Tamhane's National award-winning Marathi film Court, a poignant commentary on India's judicial system, was selected to officially represent the country in the Best Foreign Film category at the 2016 Oscars, on Wednesday. 

Court helmed by debutant Chaitanye Tamhane also grabbed this year's National Award for Best Feature Film. The multilingual courtroom drama has won 18 international awards. The film examines the Indian legal system through the trial of an ageing folk singer in a lower court in Mumbai. 

Here are five Marathi films from the past that could have been nominated for Oscars

Saamna

Directed by Jabbar Patel Saamna was released in 1974. The film was written by Vijay Tendulkar and was screened at the 25th Berlin International Film Festival. Mohan Agashe, ​Nilu Phule, Shriram Lagu, Smita Patil starred in the film.

Sinhasan

This 1979 political drama was also directed by Dr. Jabbar Patel and written by Vijay Tendulkar. The film is based on novel of the same name, written by journalist Arun Sadhu. Nilu Phule had played the lead role of the journalist in the film while Arun Sarnaik, Mohan Aghase, Nana Patekar made up the rest of the cast. The move was a blockbuster in the 70s.

Pinjara

Directed by V Shantaram, the film starred Shriram Lagoo and Sandhya in lead roles. Pinjra released in 1972 and was also released in Hindi with the same title. Set in Tamasha folk musical theatre of Maharashtra, the film is about a morally righteousness school teacher, Lagoo, who wants to reform a Tamasha performer, played by Sandhya, but ends up falling in love with her. The film is known for its music and dance numbers, with music by Ram Kadam.

Shyamchi Aai

Shyamchi Aai is hailed as one of the greatest tributes to mother's love in Marathi literature. The movie released in 1953 was written by famous author and social activist Sane Guruji and directed by Pralhad Keshav Atre. The movie had won the first national award in 1954.

Chaukat Raja

The film, released in 1991, was directed by Sanjay Surkar and produced by Smita Talwalkar. It tells the story of a family which takes a mentally challenged person under their wing and encourages him to develop skills while they deal with their own instabilities. Dilip Prabhawalkar, Sulbha Deshpande, Dilip Kulkarni, Ashok Saraf made up the cast of this film.