It came as a surprise to almost every film buff when a Gujrati film, The Good Road, was announced as India’s official entry for the next year’s Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category
Almost the entire film fraternity took to the social media platforms to share their disappointment that much- talked about film The Lunchbox didn’t win the nomination and their astonishment was aggravated because a film that not many had heard of, was selected.
However, the selection committee thought this to be the best film from the 22 entries that came from different parts of India for consideration. “Films like The Lunchbox, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and Vishwaroopam were short-listed but it was an unanimous decision by the 19-member jury to select The Good Road,” Gautam Ghosh, chairman of Oscar selection committee was quoted as saying. He said the jury had a five-hour-long discussion before finally selecting the film that won the national award for the best Gujarati film. “This is a new film but it surprises as it shows the unknown India through the story of a boy who is lost and then found while his family is on a holiday trip to Kutch,” Ghosh added.
And surprisingly enough, it astonished the director of the film, Gyan Correa, as much as the rest of the film fraternity. It’s the debut feature film by the 42-year-old and he says he was least expecting this to happen. “I was as surprised as all the others are,” he says and adds that he anyway has never thought about awards. “It’s the art of filmmaking that interests me,” says Gyan, who is happy that his film has won in the race among films like The Lunchbox and Ship of Theseus. He is more happy with the fact that the audience and critics are acknowledging independent cinema alike.
Cyrus Dastur, founder of the Shamiana Film Club, sees this as a stepping-stone for independent films. He thinks it’s sad that in India, it’s just the Hindi films with big banners associated with them that reach the masses. “Six months back nobody even knew about films like The Lunchbox or Ship of Theseus. It was after people like Karan Johar and Kiran Rao associated themselves with the films that they gained popularity. We shouldn’t need a big name to be the yardstick for a film. There is lack of information and ignorance about good cinema,” says Cyrus, who hopes that things would change in the near future with more people coming forward to popularise content-oriented films.
Most of the filmmakers believe that whoever is reacting with a disappointment shouldn’t do so till the time they have watched the nominated film. Filmmaker Rajkumar Gupta says that if the government has chosen the film, they must have seen something incredible about it. “But it’s a small film. While it has cleared the initial hurdle, it would need a lot of support to reach the final five at the Oscars and the film fraternity should come forward to make that happen,” he says and adds that a lot of activity needs to be taken up to promote the film at the international award function.
While Correa is enjoying his moment of glory, he also knows that a lot of work needs to be done. “We are yet to chalk out a plan and strategy. And I don’t want to lose out on the opportunity. Whatever it requires, I will make sure that we reach the final spot,” he says.