Zoya Akhtar’s ‘Gully Boy’ India’s official entry to Oscars 2020

The Film Federation of India (FFI) has chosen ‘Gully Boy’ as India’s official entry to the Oscars. A total of 28 movies (including the one selected) were in contention.

The other Hindi movies which were in the fray include Badhaai Ho, Andhadhun, Article 15, Uri: The Surgical Strike, Badla, Kesari, The Tashkent Files and some others.

This apart regional language movies include Anandi Gopal (Marathi), And the Oscar goes to… (Malaylam), Baba (Marathi), Bulbul Can Sing (Assamese), Dear Comrade (Telugu), Hellaro (Gujarati), Konttho (Bengali), Kurukshetra (Kannad), Mai Ghat: Crime No 103/2005 (Marathi), Nagarkirtan (Bengali), Olu (Malaylam), Oththa Seruppu Size 7 (Tamil), Pahuna: The Little Visitor (Sikkim), Super Deluxe (Tamil), Tarikh-A Timeline (Bengali), Uyare (Malaylam) and Vada Chennai (Tamil), and others.

The films were screened for the jury at Bijoli Cinema, a heritage single plex cinema hall, here. The screenings began September 16 onwards, the FFI said in a release.

“The energy of the film (Gully Boy) was infectious and it will speak to the audience,” Aparna Sen, Chairperson, Jury Committee, said.

PTI adds:

Celebrated actor-filmmaker Aparna Sen was the head of the jury for this year’s selection committee.

“Gully Boy”, produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar and directed by Zoya Akhtar’, featured Ranveer as an up-and-coming rapper who sets out to achieve his dream by rhyming about his life on the Mumbai streets.

Farhan took to Twitter to congratulate the team behind the film, which was one of the most critically-acclaimed Hindi movies of 2019.

“Gully Boy has been selected as India’s official entry to the 92nd Oscar Awards. #apnatimeaayega. Thank you to the film federation and congratulations #Zoya @kagtireema @ritesh_sid @RanveerOfficial @aliaa08 @SiddhantChturvD @kalkikanmani & cast, crew and hip hop crew,” he wrote.

Kalki, who played a pivotal role in the movie, also expressed her excitement on the film’s Oscar selection.

“Woweeeeeeeee! That is just the best Saturday evening news!” she tweeted.

No Indian film has ever won an Oscar. The last Indian film that made it to the final five in the Best Foreign Film category list was Ashutosh Gowariker’s “Lagaan” in 2001.

“Mother India” (1958) and “Salaam Bombay” (1989) are the other two Indian movies to have made it to the top five.

Assamese film “Village Rockstars”, directed by Rima Das, was India’s official submission to the Oscars last year.