Bringing a smile of content back to Aamir Khan’s face for the third time is Film Federation of India which chose Peepli [Live] – an issue based movie produced by Khan, written and directed by debutant Anusha Rizvi – as India’s official entry to the Oscar Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The movie which stars Omkar Das Manikpuri, Raghuvir Yadav and Naseeruddin Shah was a critical and commercial success in India and in overseas markets.

Aamir’s Oscar rendezvous with Oscar hopes goes all the way back to 2001, when Lagaan was shortlisted as one of the 5 contenders for the coveted award. Unfortunately it lost out to a Bosnian film, No Man’s Land. Taare Zameen Par which was the official Indian entry in 2007 wasn’t as fortunate as Lagaan, as it failed to make it to the final five in the category.

The 15-member panel was chaired by K.S. Sethumadhavan included film directors, music directors, script/story writers and a sound recordist as well as a costume designer. Some of the noteworthy movies which were assessed included Singham, Madharasapattinam, Raavanan, Angadi Theru (all Tamil), Pazhassi Raja (Malayalam), Paa, Raajneeti, My Name is Khan, Three Idiots, Well Done Abba (all Hindi) and The Japanese Wife, Abhomaan (Bengali).

The panel’s selection of films for review and the ultimate decision to choose Peepli [Live] has met with serious criticism from movie reviewers and enthusiasts as many feel that the movies which were shortlisted for assessment were not exceptional in any way to start with.

- Prepared by Sanjoy Alexander