Ranveer Singh-starrer Dhurandhar has failed to secure India’s official submission for the 99th Academy Awards, after receiving four votes from the 14-member Film Federation of India (FFI) selection jury.
Marathi thriller Gondhal, written and directed by Santosh Davakhar, was selected as India’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category from a field of 33 films.
Why Dhurandhar Was Not Selected
FFI jury member Vivek Vaswani said Dhurandhar was considered during the selection process but did not receive enough support to make the final three.
According to Vaswani, the jury did not consider the film to meet what it was looking for in an Oscar submission and felt it did not represent Indian culture in the way the panel wanted. These were the jury member’s explanations for the decision, rather than an official assessment by the Academy.
Vaswani said Dhurandhar received four votes from the 14-member panel. The film’s box-office performance was therefore separate from the jury’s assessment for India’s International Feature Film submission.
Gondhal Selected From 33 Films
The FFI considered 33 films from several Indian languages before selecting Gondhal.
The submissions included 14 Hindi films, four Marathi, four Telugu, four Gujarati, three Tamil, one Malayalam and one Nagamese film, along with a silent film.
Gondhal is set in rural Maharashtra and centres on the traditional Gondhal ritual and folk-performance tradition. The film explores relationships and conflict against the backdrop of the centuries-old cultural practice.
The final selection means Gondhal will represent India in the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.
Dhurandhar’s Oscar Possibilities
Missing out on India’s official International Feature Film submission does not necessarily prevent Dhurandhar from being considered in other Academy Award categories, provided it meets the Academy’s eligibility requirements.
India’s official submission and the Academy’s wider awards consideration are separate processes. RRR, for example, was not India’s official International Feature Film submission but received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song and won the award for “Naatu Naatu.”