Although only three B-town cult movies — Mother India, Salaam Bombay and Lagaan — have managed to make it to the Oscars listing, the enthusiasm to nominate their films for selections to the big O is unabated among Indian film-makers. This time, Eega is facing stiff competition from B-town films like Heroine, Barfi, Kahani, Gangs of Wasseypur, etc., to get nominated as India’s contribution for Oscar’s best foreign film category. Around 18 films are in the race in the list compiled by the Film Federation of India.
The films will be screened under the aegis of the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce in Hyderabad from September 18 to September 26 and a 16-member jury will chose the Oscar entrant.
“We wanted to hold the selections in Chennai but with our chamber building under renovation, we shifted the venue to Hyderabad and made all the arrangements for the nine-day event,” says C. Kalyan, president, South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce and secretary of Film Federation of India. “Although, as a Telugu film-maker, I would love to have more Telugu entries, but we have got only Eega,” he adds.
Meanwhile co-producer of Eega Suresh Babu, hopes that the film will be selected for the Oscars. “In such a short listing, it largely depends on the mood of the jury at that point of time,” he says. Award winning film-maker Sunil Kumar Reddy, on the other hand, says, “Entry fees of Rs 50,000 discouraged many T-town film-makers. There are many who want to join the Oscar entrance but Rs 50,000 is exorbitant. Probably FFI wants to shun small film-makers and give more space to rich B-town filmmakers. Foreign film category has mostly off-beat cinema, but FFI is supporting star films.”
National award winning film-maker, Neelakanta, says that promoting films in Hollywood is unaffordable for small film-makers. “Even if our film is selected, we have to spend Rs 50 lakh to promote the film in Hollywood and attract the attention of 5000-odd academy members by planting news items and stories about the film and make them watch since each vote counts.”


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Keywords: B-town , Mother India, Salaam Bombay , Lagaan , Oscars listing,Eega , Heroine, Barfi, Kahani, Gangs of Wasseypur,Oscar entrant, C. Kalyan, Eega Suresh Babu, film-maker Sunil Kumar Reddy,Neelakanta,tamil film news,Kollywood film news