Anurag Kashyap on India struggles at Oscars

Anurag Kashyap on India struggles at Oscars. India despite making highest number of films every year fails to make it to the Oscars in the best films category. The prestigious Oscars has been eluding Indian films in the best award category.

Anurag Kashyap speaking to scribes, shared his views frankly. He said “Because we select absolutely wrong films. Even if we did have the chance to select the right ones like The Lunchbox and All We Imagine As Light, we messed it up.”

He added, “The most important qualification for eligibility should be that the film should have gone to some international festival outside India or should have had American distribution or should have had an American distributor before year-end. Gondhal should first try to get seen at festivals. That has to be the first step, or all the money spent on screenings or advertising is a waste. Also, the IFFI is a recognised Indian film festival. If Gondhal won the Silver Peacock there, NFDC should play a role in submitting its Regional IFFI winners for international festivals for exposure.”

Following this, the director of India's official entry to Oscars, Gondhal Santosh Davakhar said “I deeply respect Anurag Kashyap Sir and his filmmaking. On the Bengaluru-Mumbai flight on 26 April at 23:55, I introduced GONDHAL to him. He said he hadn't heard of or watched it, but would definitely do so. Since then, it has neither been publicly available nor screened in Mumbai.”

He continued “My humble request to all audiences, please watch the film before passing a verdict. Made by a debut filmmaker from outside the film fraternity, GONDHAL is a psychological thriller blending Marathi culture with global appeal. It is created for the big screen-not OTT. We understand the responsibility of representing India and will not let our country down. Please watch it in theatres upon its upcoming re-release and stand behind us as we face the world.”

- Pramod Nandivada