Jallikattu: Losing Out On The Oscar, Again
When would we stop sending the wrong films to the Oscars, only to be rejected?
When would we stop sending the wrong films to the Oscars, only to be rejected? It’s not as if we are being victimized as a third-world country. The truth is, we don’t make films worthy of international recognition, nothing like Salvador Calvo’s Spanish Adu or Matías Piñeiro’s Argentinian Viola has come out of India in a long long time.
Most of the time Indian critics –and that includes yours truly—are busy celebrating Indian mediocrity on celluloid. There are so many recent Indian(not just Bollywood) films that I’ve praised on release, only to cringe when I returned to them.
Most recent Hindi films lack durability.Jallikattu the Malayalam film that we sent to the Oscars lacked not just durability. It also lacked universality. As I had written when the film was announced as India’s entry to the Oscars, “There is a ferocious fracas at the heart of this unnerving film. It is original but extremely violent. And to be honest, after a point I found the gore to be a bore.I have a feeling the Oscars jury would feel the same way.”
So, here we are , standing with our heads bowed as losers once again. And the status quo won’t change until we send the correct film to the Oscars. Geetu Mohandas’ Malayalam film Mothoon , for example, was a far more eligible film with a far better sense of the universe. Let’s face it: we sent the wrong film again.
Better luck next time.
Image source: IMDb
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