MUMBAI: The 86th Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, will take place on 2 March 2014, but the nominations will be announced on 16 January, 2014. That date will be eyed by many Indian filmmakers and producers as the Film Federation of India (FFI) begins judging which Indian film can be sent to officially represent India in the Best Foreign Language film category.
Over the years, only three films have reached the final five nomination list: ‘Mother India’ in 1957, ‘Salaam Bombay!’ in 1989 and ‘Lagaan’ in 2002.
The FFI will decide on a film by 22 September, 2013. The criteria for the film should be, among others that it should be released between 1 October, 2012 to 30 September, 2013. The film should be in any Indian language and should have had a theatrical run of at least a week in India itself.
This leaves us with quite a few films. In the Hindi mainstream space, we have films like ‘Kai Po Che’, ‘English Vinglish’, ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, ‘Madras Cafe, ‘The Lunchbox’, ‘Lootera’ and ‘Ship Of Theseus’. There are also Kannada and Telugu films in the fray. BusinessOfCinema takes a look at the films in the race to be India’s official entry.
