Eklavya out of Oscar race

Eklavya, India's entry to the Oscars, failed to make it to the top nine contending movies for best foreign film. Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Eklavya, The Royal Guard, India's controversy-marred entry to the Oscars, has failed to make it to the nine top movies in contention for the prestigious award in foreign-language film category.

The Amitabh Bachchan-starrer was among 63 entries from various countries but could not make it to the first shortlist.

In the running for the five final nominations are Austria's The Counterfeiters, Canada's Days of Darkness, Israel's Beaufort, Italy's The Unknown Woman, Kazakhstan's Mongol, Poland's Katyn, Russia's 12, Brazil's The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, and Serbia's The Trap.

Eklavya, which also stars Saif Ali Khan, Sharmila Tagore, Sanjay Dutt, Vidya Balan and Jackie Shroff, marked Chopra's return to directing after seven years. His two other films Parinda (1989) and a documentary An encounter with Faces (1980) were also sent to the Oscars.

After the movie was chosen as India's official entry to the Oscars, director Bhavna Talwar filed a petition claiming that the 11-member jury had taken a "biased" decision as some of the panelists had close ties to Chopra.

Talwar's own film Dharm was passed over for Eklavya and a verbal spat followed between Chopra and those opposing his movie, which had failed to register with Indian audience.
The Bombay High Court sought a response from the Film Federation of India on the issue.

Following the controversy, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences had asked the FFI to withdraw or confirm the entry.

Courtesy:screenindia.com
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