MUMBAI – For once India’s film think tank made the right call in selecting a small Marathi language film “Court” that has been a festival favorite around the world to send to the biggest Film Award show in the world – The Academy Awards or the Oscars. And they may be rewarded as Court has a real chance to make the final nominated films cut at this year’s awards which will be held in early 2016.
At the film beat out many big-ticket productions and box-office successes, as ‘Court’ was on Wednesday selected as India’s official entry for the Oscars.
Filmed on a shoestring budget of Rs 3.5 crore, debutant director Chaitanya Tamhane’s film will now represent the country in the Best Foreign Film category at the Academy Awards. The winner will be announced in February.
Tamhane (28), who is currently in Japan, took to Twitter to express his happiness. “At every juncture of the film’s journey we have felt that it has given us more than we could ever imagine,” the director and producer Vivek Gomber jointly said to the media through a release. “Once again, this has come as a genuine surprise to both Vivek and me. Ever since we started making the film, we kept our expectations low. Especially in this case, since these results tend to be so unpredictable, it just felt like a wise thing to not expect too much. Now that it has actually happened, we would like to thank the jury for their decision and everyone who has supported the film so far.”
‘Court’ won the coveted status following a marathon screening of over 40 films, spanning a week, in Hyderabad. The film takes a close look at India’s dysfunctional judicial system – where cases drag on for decades even as the accused impatiently wait for judgment to be delivered – through the eyes of a folk artist.
A socially pertinent storyline apart – packed with charged courtroom scenes and powerful dialogues – its fresh yet strong cast is also believed to have impressed the jury. The actors include Vira Sathidar, Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Pradeep Joshi, Usha Bane and Shirish Pawar. More than 1,800 people are said to have gone through auditions for the 116-minute film, which is a multi-lingual production in Hindi, Gujarati, English and Marathi.
“‘Court’ has been selected by a 15-member committee constituted for the purpose of choosing India’s entry for the Oscars in the best foreign film category,” said Supran Sen, secretary general, Film Federation of India .The jury was headed by noted actor Amol Palekar as chairman.
Together, it beat other biggies to the game, including the Rs 250-crore grosser ‘Bahubali’, the Aamir Khan-starrer ‘PK’ and the hugely popular ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’.
Tamhane’s film, which opened to rave reviews on April 17, has already picked up several prizes in India and abroad. ‘Court’ was adjudged the best feature film at the 62nd national awards announced in March. It subsequently went on to win as many as 17 international awards. At the Mosiac International South Asian Film Festival, it was declared the winner for best fiction feature film and best cinematography. In July, ‘Court’ was released in Chicago. It won the best film award at the Indian film festival, Stuttgart.
“I don’t remember the exact cases (on which the film is based) right now,” Tamhane had earlier said during an interaction with movie buffs in Hyderabad. “But every trip to the court revealed something very amusing. Some of the stories were stranger than fiction. Had you seen it in a film you would have said, this is bad fiction.”
The young director, however, confessed to having made numerous rounds of courts and reading books by senior advocate Fali Nariman and Justice V R Krishna Iyer before scripting ‘Court’.
