It’s time when Indian film luminaries have to decide which Indian film will become India’s official entry to the prestigious Oscar Awards. And surprise of surprises, streaming giant Netflix leads the pack of contenders for the honour, with five of its films vying to be selected to represent the Indian film industry at the Academy Awards 2021.
Last year, Gully Boy had been India’s official Oscar entry. But 2020 is different in more ways than one. First and foremost, 2020 is the year of a severely curtailed theatrical scene. We all know that very few movies have released in theatres this year, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. For that reason alone, scores of films have been forced to premiere on OTT platforms instead of cinemas.
Secondly, this is the first year that the Academy has allowed “streaming only” films to vie for an Academy Award. Previously, until the Oscar Awards 2020 that is, only those films were accepted into consideration for the Oscars that had been released in cinema halls first. This year, due to the Coronavirus situation, the Oscars have tweaked eligibility rules for movies vying for the Academy Awards 2021, to include movies that have only played on streaming platforms. Earlier rules stated that a movie released primarily on OTT must have first played in the theatres at least for a week, to be considered eligible for the Oscars.
The combination of the above two factors has led to a unique situation — for the first time ever, Netflix has submitted five of its original films to be considered as India’s official Oscar entry. The films are Gunjan Saxena, AK Vs AK, Serious Men, Bulbbul and Chippa. Amazon Prime Video is not far behind, in the number of original films submitted by it. Three of its films – Shakuntala Devi, Chhalaang and Gulabo Sitabo – are in the race to be selected as India’s official Oscar entry. ZEE5 has submitted two – Atkan Chatkan and Chintu Ka Birthday. SonyLIV completes the list of OTT releases vying for Oscar attention, with its Original film, Bhonsle.
Filmmaker and director Rahul Rawail heads the committee that will select the film that will represent India at the Oscars. Here is the complete list of films from which one will be chosen as India’s Oscar entry – Sir, Shikara, Gunjan Saxena, Shakuntala Devi, Bahattar Hoorian, Malang, Chhalaang, Gulabo Sitabo, Chhapaak, Bhonsle, AK vs AK, Kaamyaab, Serious Men, Bulbbul, I Pad, Atkan Chatkan, Chintu Ka Birthday, Marathi films The Disciple and Bittersweet, Oriya film Kalira Atita, and Malayalam films Moothon and Jallikattu.
It must be noted that these OTT films are separate from the films that streamers send for the Oscars as their own property, such as Mank and Da 5 Bloods for Netflix, Borat Subsequent MovieFilm for Amazon Prime Video and Cherry for Apple TV Plus.
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