Malayalam film 'Jallikattu' is India's entry for Oscars 2021
Director Lijo Jose Pellissery's Malayalam movie Jallikattu has been selected as India's official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 93rd Academy Awards, also popularly known as the Oscars. A 14-member committee of the Film Federation of India, the body that picks the Indian submission each year, made the announcement on Wednesday. Here are more details on this.
Jallikattu was chosen out of 27 films. Some other movies that were in the race to become India's official entry were The Disciple, Shikara, Gunjan Saxena, Chhapaak, AK vs AK, Gulabo Sitabo, Bhonsle, Chhalaang, Shakuntala Devi, Eeb Allay Ooo!, Check Post, Atkan Chatkan, Serious Men, Bulbbul, Kaamyaab, The Sky is Pink, Chintu ka Birthday and Bittersweet.
The film revolves around a tamed buffalo that liberates itself from its owner on the eve of its scheduled slaughter and runs wild through a town in Kerala. The film is based on a short story by S Hareesh, who also wrote the screenplay along with R Jayakumar. The movie stars Antony Varghese, Chemban Vinod Jose, Sabumon Abdusamad and Santhy Balachandran.
Sharing the reason behind the movie's selection, committee chairperson Rahul Rawail said, "It is a film which really brings out the raw side of human beings, that we are worse than animals." "The film has been shot very well. The emotions, which come out, moved all of us. Lijo is an extremely competent director. So, that's why we zeroed in on Jallikattu," he added.
The 93rd Academy Awards are all set to be held on April 25, 2021 in Los Angeles, United States. The prestigious ceremony was delayed by two months because of the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, director Zoya Akhtar's musical drama Gully Boy was selected as India's official submission for Oscars 2020. However, so far, India has never won an award in this category.
