by Peerzada Arshad Hamid
NEW DELHI, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- India's national award-winning Assamese film Village Rockstars is the country's official entry in the Foreign Language Film category at the 2019 Oscars, the Film Federation of India (FFI) said Saturday.
The announcement was made by an all-India jury constituted FFI under the chairmanship of Kannada producer Rajendra Singh Babu in Mumbai.
Village Rockstars beat 27 other contenders, including Padman, an Indian biographical drama film inspired by the life of a social activist who breaks taboo around mensuration and introduced low-cost sanitary pads.
"Out of 27 films, Village Rockstars was chosen as this year's official nominee for Oscars," Supran Sen, secretary general of FFI told Xinhua. "We are hopeful that the film would make it to the prestigious Oscars."
Village Rockstars is not a big-budget Bollywood movie but a very simple Assamese language film directed by Rima Das. The film is about Dhunu, a girl who grows up in poverty and learns to fend for herself. However, that does not prevent her from following her dream of forming a rock band and owning a guitar someday in life.
Das is the writer, director, cinematographer, editor and producer of Village Rockstars, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2017.
The film was shot in Das's native village of Chhaygaon in northeastern Assam and most of the cast members are non-actors from the village, including her niece Bhanita Das who plays Dhunu.
The film has made waves across several film festivals and was awarded the Best Feature Film at the 65th national film awards. Apart from this, the film won awards in three other categories, including best child artist for Bhanita Das, best location sound recording and best editing.
Last year film Newton was nominated as the official entry for the Oscars. The film was about a government clerk sent on election duty to a Naxal-controlled town in the conflict-ridden jungles of central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.
Faced with the apathy of security forces and the looming fear of guerrilla attacks by Naxals, he tries his best to conduct free and fair voting despite odds. However, the film could not make it to the award.
Indian film entries have a poor track record of making it to the top five in the Foreign Film category at Oscars.
The Film Federation of India is responsible for nominating Indian films for the Oscars. It is an apex body of the Indian film producers, distributors, exhibitors and studio owners.
Das took to twitter to share the news.
"It's a huge honour, I am elated! Das wrote on twitter. "With tears of joy and a feeling of pride, I humbly accept this news Village Rockstars is India's official entry for the Oscars ! Let that sink in."
In 2001, an Indian nomination and global blockbuster Lagaan (Tax), starring Aamir Khan, made it to the top five at Oscars.
India's film industry in terms of revenue has gross box office realizations of 2.1 billion U. S. dollars. The industry employs nearly six million people.
Village Rockstars is slated for a pan-India release on Sept 28.
