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India has chosen the comedy film “Laapataa Ladies,” or “Lost Ladies” in English, as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2025 Academy Awards. The movie tells the story of two brides who accidentally switch places on a train ride to their husbands’ homes. This mix-up sends the women to unexpected destinations and greatly changes their lives.

Directed by Kiran Rao, “Laapataa Ladies” premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival where reviews praised it. Since then it has proven popular on the international film festival circuit. The movie stars Pratibha Ranta and Nitanshi Goel as Jaya and Phool, the two newlywed women whose faces are covered by identical red veils as they begin their journeys.

India’s selection committee picked “Laapataa Ladies” over Payal Kapadia’s drama “All We Imagine As Light,” previously seen as the front-runner after winning a top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

India has selected Kiran Rao’s comedy of errors Laapataa Ladies (Lost Ladies) to represent the country in the 2025 Oscar race in the Best International Feature category.

The Hindi-language film, which premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, beat out Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, which had been considered the frontrunner for the Oscar slot, after its rapturous reception in Cannes, where it won the festival’s Grand Jury prize.

But Rao’s feature has proven a crowd-pleaser on the festival circuit. The light satire follows Jaya (Pratibha Ranta) and Phool (Nitanshi Goel): Two new brides, whose faces are hidden behind identical red marital veils, both traveling on the same Indian cross-country rail car to their nuptials, who get accidentally swapped and land at the wrong weddings, setting them on very different destinies. Yash Raj Films picked up international distribution rights to the film,...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2, 2024.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Janus Films and Sideshow have set the U.S. release date for “All We Imagine as Light,” the critically acclaimed Indian drama that won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, for Nov. 15 in New York and Los Angeles, with a nationwide expansion to follow.

Written and directed by Payal Kapadia in her narrative directorial debut, the film tells the story of two women in Mumbai — Prabha, a troubled nurse who receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband, and Anu, her young roommate who is seeking a place to be intimate with her boyfriend. A trip to a beach town allows them to find a space for their desires to manifest. The film stars Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam and Hridhu Haroon.

Read: You can see all Academy Award predictions in all 23 categories on one page on the Variety Awards Circuit: Oscars.

The co-distributors hope the drama...

India enjoyed a record year at the Cannes Film Festival — winning three major awards and an honor — and this is likely to have a positive impact on the country’s independent cinema scene, according to industry experts.

Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light” won the competition grand prix, Anasuya Sengupta was awarded best actress at the festival’s Un Certain Regard strand for “The Shameless” and Chidananda S. Naik’s “Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know” was crowned the best film at the La Cinef section. In addition, Indian DoP Santosh Sivan was this year’s recipient of the annual Pierre Angénieux ExcelLens in Cinematography award conferred during the festival.

“All We Imagine as Light” was the first Indian film in competition in three decades, since Shaji N. Karun’s “Swaham” in 1994. “Sister Midnight” was a Directors’ Fortnight selection, “Santosh” screened at Un Certain Regard and “Girls Will Be Girls,...

Bollywood Veteran Sunil Dutt died on May 25, 2005, after suffering a heart attack at his Mumbai home. He was a prominent figure in Indian cinema, known for his work in movies like “Mother India,” “Mujhe Jeene Do,” and “Reshma Aur Shera.”

In addition to his cinematic achievements, Sunil Dutt was also a Member of Parliament and served as the Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports in the Indian government. His death was a significant loss to both the Indian film industry and the political arena.On his 19th death anniversary, his son Sanjay Dutt, remembered his late father. He wrote a heartfelt note and shared some throwback pictures too.

Along with the photo, Sanjay Dutt wrote, “Holding onto the memories and your love, Dad. You remain a guiding light in my life. Missing you today and every day (sic).”

Sanjay Dutt was very close to his parents, father Sunil Dutt and mother Nargis.

Over the last few years, globally, there has been a significant increase in our degree of viewership due to the proliferation of various Ott platforms. As it has embraced niche audiences and content, it has empowered filmmakers and emerging talent to showcase their work to a wider audience. In India too, the wave has been felt with web series such as Sacred Games (2018), Scam 1992 (2020), Paatal Lok (2020), Jubilee(2023), and The Railway Man (2023), among others. The recent Netflix extravaganza, Heeramandi, directed by auteur filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali, whose image among cinephiles and general viewers is held with respect, also roused similar expectations. Unfolding across eight episodes, the ambitious series centers around the lives of tawaifs (nautch girls) in the red-light district of Heera Mandi in Lahore, before the partition of India. The series has all the signature styles of the filmmaker of displaying exuberance and is crammed with exquisitely choreographed songs,...

New Delhi, April 14 (Ians) Her influence persists in Bollywood even after her name has faded from public memory, althrough remixes of her rollicking hits from the 1950s continue to be in circulation. Another, and not that well-known, legacy of Shamshad Begum, though, was initiating what later became “item numbers”, though her contributions were more perky than provocative, saucy than raunchy, and racy without being ribald.

And then, they were delivered in a robust voice, whose clarity was compared to a temple bell by composer O.P. Nayyar, with a full-blown gusto and sense of abandon.

“Udan khatole pe udh jaaun”, “Mere piya gaye Rangoon”, “Kabhi aar kabhi paar”, “Bisvi sadi hai ye bisvii sadi”, “Leke pehla pehla pyar”, “Kahin pe nigahen kahin pe nishana”, and “Boojh mera kya naam re” are prime examples.

And then, nearly forty years before Madhuri Dixit in “Tezaab” (1988), Shamshad Begum, who was born on this day...

Mumbai, March 24 (Ians) Actress Ankita Lokhande went down memory lane and recalled her conversation with late Bollywood star and former beau Sushant Singh Rajput about his 2015 film ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy’.

Talking to Ians about the world of cinema giving different learnings, producer Sandeep Singh said: “ ‘Mughal-e-Azam’, ‘Mother India’, ‘Do Bigha Zamin’, ‘Deewar’, ‘Mandi’, ‘Mausam’ and ‘Aandhi’ taught us.”

” ‘Satya’ gave us a different world and so did ‘Bandit Queen’, which gave us a completely different world (onscreen).”

Chiming into the conversation, Ankita said: “I just remembered something, when ‘Byomkesh Bakshy’ released, then Sushant used to say that today people wouldn’t understand the film, but there will be a time when people will understand this kind of cinema.”

‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!’ is directed and co-written by Dibakar Banerjee, which is based on the fictional detective Byomkesh Bakshi, created by the Bengali writer Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay.

Sushant Singh Rajput died by suicide...

In 1929, the Academy Awards were established by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to celebrate global excellence in the film industry. While it had its fair share of detractors over the years, the Academy has managed to navigate through the mire of controversies, especially the touchy topic of racial and cultural representation (case in point: #OscarsSoWhite movement), to stay relevant throughout its illustrious history.

Asian Films have been honoured starting with the 19th edition of the Awards when they were first given as a special honorary prize for the Best Foreign Film released in the USA. Nine years later, the prize became a competitive one and a winner was chosen from within a pool of predominantly non-English nominees.

Seven illustrious motion pictures from within Asia have clinched this top honour but many others, some of which are amongst the most iconic of Asian cinema, have been nominated and acknowledged as well.

The Malayalam film ‘2018: Everyone Is A Hero’, which was selected as India’s official entry for the Oscars in the Best International Feature Film category, has failed to make it to the final shortlist of the 96th Academy Awards. The film, directed by Jude Anthany Joseph and featuring an ensemble cast of Tovino Thomas, Kunchacko Boban, Indrans, Asif Ali, Tanvi Ram, and Aparna Balamurali, among others, was a survival drama set against the backdrop of the devastating 2018 floods in Kerala. The film was a tribute to the heroes who saved lives during the calamity and also highlighted the global issue of climate change and its impact on the environment and humanity.

The film was chosen by the Film Federation of India (Ffi) as the country’s official entry to the Oscars from among 26 entries, including films like ‘The Disciple’, ‘Sherni’, ‘The Great Indian Kitchen’, and ‘Pinki Elli?’. The Ffi selection committee,...

Jude Anthany Joseph, director of India’s international feature Oscar contender “2018,” has started work on his next film.

The untitled investigative thriller is being written by the filmmaker alongside journalist Josy Joseph. The film is based on the true story of Kerala Shipping Corporation’s cargo ship Mv Kairali that disappeared in 1979 with a crew of 49 and 20,000 tonnes of iron ore on board while sailing from Margao, India to Rostock, Germany, via Djibouti.

“It’s really fascinating to learn the historical importance of this incident and how the investigation never succeeded. As a filmmaker it is a challenging subject to execute,” Joseph told Variety. Production is due to commence in the last quarter of 2024.

Meanwhile, “2018” screened at the ongoing International Film Festival of India (Iffi), Goa and the producers threw a lavish party to celebrate the film’s progress. The survival drama based on the climate change-caused floods that...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

India has officially announced its entry for the 2024 Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category. The film is 2018, a Malayalam-language epic survival drama about the severe 2018 Kerala floods that devastated the state. [1]

The film, directed by Jude Anthany Joseph and written by Joseph and Akhil P. Dharmajan, stars Tovino Thomas, Kunchacko Boban, Asif Ali, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Narain and Lal with an ensemble supporting cast. The film follows the lives of several characters who are affected by the floods in different ways, and how they overcome the challenges and help each other. [1]

The film was released on 5 May 2023 and received critical acclaim and commercial success. It grossed over ₹200 crore (US$25 million) at the box office, to emerge as the highest-grossing Malayalam film of all-time and one of the highest grossing Indian film of 2023. [1] The film was praised for its realistic portrayal of the disaster, its emotional impact, its technical excellence and its social message.

There was one occasion when Dev Anand, forced to quit a blue-collar job he depended on for sustenance, ripped his elder brother Chetan Anand of Rs (the then) princely sum of Rs 5,000 to launch a less than moral venture, and if this was not enough, began wooing the girl his younger brother Vijay ‘Goldie’ Anand fancied, and eventually in luring her away.

If these sordid revelations shock you, do not think too badly of Dev Anand. For all this did not happen in real life, but in reel life, in the social romantic comedy “Kala Bazaar” (1960), which has several distinctions to its credit but chiefly stands out for being the only film in which all the three Anand brothers acted together.

While Chetan Anand had directed the early Dev Anand films, he had sought to branch out on his own after “Taxi Driver” (1954) to indulge in his own creativity, and...

There was one occasion when Dev Anand, forced to quit a blue-collar job he depended on for sustenance, ripped his elder brother Chetan Anand of Rs (the then) princely sum of Rs 5,000 to launch a less than moral venture, and if this was not enough, began wooing the girl his younger brother Vijay ‘Goldie’ Anand fancied, and eventually in luring her away.

If these sordid revelations shock you, do not think too badly of Dev Anand. For all this did not happen in real life, but in reel life, in the social romantic comedy “Kala Bazaar” (1960), which has several distinctions to its credit but chiefly stands out for being the only film in which all the three Anand brothers acted together.

While Chetan Anand had directed the early Dev Anand films, he had sought to branch out on his own after “Taxi Driver” (1954) to indulge in his own creativity, and...

It is one of the apparent paradoxes that while Duryodhan is blamed for triggering the Mahabharata, in the real sense all the fathers after Duryodhan and even around Duryodhan are blind towards the love they have for their sons, and they are in most of the cases oblivious to its repercussions. Hindi cinema has celebrated this relationship which is catalyzed on blindness since eons. We all are Dhritrastras in actuality.

But Jailer seems to have made the argument stand on its head, and it is one of the primary reasons, inspite of the usual kitsch that it has been packed with that it has achieved the phenomenal success. Here is a father, who comes out of retirement to save his son, a modern Dhritarashtra, but when he finds that the son is recalcitrant and has erred on the wrong side of law, he gives him a long rope, but when...

Actor Anupam Kher, who is now gearing up for Vivek Agnihotri’s film ‘The Vaccine War’, went to Punjab and met the Border Security Force (Bsf) soldiers at the Attari-Wagah border, and saluted them during the Beating Retreat ceremony.

Taking to his Instagram stories, ‘The Kashmir Files’ actor was seen addressing the audience at the massive event, where he said: “My dear Indians! Bharat Mata ki Jai! Vande Mataram! Vande Mataram! Vande Mataram!”

While speaking to the audience, everybody chanted along with him the slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’.

He then said: “What can be an opportunity of greater pride for us, than to be at the very start of India’s crossing. This is a place where a person automatically is mesmerised, and our heads are held down in reverence, and our chest puffs with pride, as we see our soldiers guarding our borders, keeping us safe!

New Delhi, Aug 14 (Ians) In the recent episodes of ‘Pyaar Ka Pehla Naam Radha Mohan’, Radha (Neeharika Roy) was in prison for being wrongly framed by the antagonist Damini (Sambhabana Mohanty), so that she can prevent Radha from investigating after the actual killer of Mohan’s (Shabir Ahluwalia) first wife Tulsi (Keerti Nagpure).

On learning about Radha’s situation, protagonists of Zee TV’s popular shows ‘Rabb Se Hai Hua’ and ‘Pyaar Ka Pehla Adhyaya Shiv Shakti’ – Dua and Shakti rush to her rescue.

With Independence Day around the corner, they hatch a plan to help Radha escape. As a part of the Independence Day festivities inside the jail, Dua and Shakti will be seen enthralling the inmates with a spirited performance to the song ‘Des Rangila’, while Radha will be seen donning the avatar of Bharat Mata.

While shooting for this sequence, Neeharika was super excited to share screen...

Mumbai, July 15 (Ians) Actress Rakul Preet Singh had a great time recently having fun chat with her fans, regarding her decision to pursue acting as a profession and being good at academics amongst other topics.

Rakul Preet was pleasantly surprised to receive all the love, warmth and support of her fans who came from different cities including Jaipur, Indore and Lucknow to meet her at the event which she attended as a guest.

One of her fans from Delhi presented her with a cute painting made by his daughter focusing on her critically-acclaimed film, ‘Chhatriwaali’. Reciprocating the love to her young fan, Rakul obliged to the fan’s request and thanked his daughter on the video.

Another fan presented her with a big poster of the cult classic ‘Mother India’. On the work front, she will be next seen in ‘Indian 2’ starring alongside Kamal Haasan. She was recently seen...

Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt remembered his mother and iconic actress Nargis, whom he fondly called his “guiding light” on her 94th birth anniversary.

Taking to Instagram to pay a tribute, Sanjay posted a monochrome photograph of his mother and wrote: “To my guiding light, happy birthday, Mom. I love you and miss you always.”

It was in the 1980 when Nargis was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She passed away on May 3, 1981.

One of India’s finest actors, Nargis began her film career as a leading lady in the early 1940s and continued to perform until 1967. She made her screen debut in a small role at the age of five with the 1935 film ‘Talash-e-Haq’. But started her journey in filmdom with the 1942 film ‘Tamanna’.

It was on the sets of ‘Mother India’ in 1957, when Nargis and late actor Sunil Dutt fell in love with each other after a fire broke out and he rescued her.

Bollywood music is an integral part of Indian cinema and culture. It has a rich history that dates back to the early days of Indian cinema. The journey of Bollywood music is a fascinating one, and it has given us some of the most unforgettable melodies that have become a part of our lives.

In this article, we will take a glimpse into the mesmerizing journey of Bollywood music and discover how it has evolved over the years to become an indispensable part of Indian cinema.

History of Bollywood Music

In the 1930s, Indian cinema was going through a transition from silent films to talkies, and music played a significant role in this transition. The first Indian talkie film, Alam Ara, released in 1931, had seven songs in it. The music for this film was composed by Ferozshah M. Mistri and B. Irani, and the songs were sung by the actors themselves.

’Rrr’ has struck a chord with foreign audiences and its song, ‘Naatu Naatu’, with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which awards the Oscars. Wish there was a category for choreography as well at the Oscars, for, I think, that has created the magic that ‘Naatu Naatu’ has become known for.

We had Richard Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi’ and, later, Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, both of which made it big at the Oscars. We were thrilled about it. But they were not the products of any of the Indian film industries. They merely had India-related stories.

Quite a few other filmmakers tried for nominations at the Oscars

The earlier one was Mehboob Khan’s ‘Mother India’. They probably did not identify with a woman refusing to compromise even while her kids were starving. It was the post-World War II era and there were stories about women known to compromise...

In the past 55 years in which India has been sending entries for the Best International Feature Film Oscar, it has been on just three occasions that the selected movies, despite some of them being critically acclaimed both in India and abroad, have made it to the nominations shortlist.

A dismal record, if any, calling in question the selection process.

The three films on this rather bald list are the Nargis-Sunil Dutt classic “Mother India” (1957), Mira Nair’s “Salaam Bombay” (1988) and Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Aamir Khan-starrer “Lagaan” (2001).

This year, the official selection — “Chhello Show”, Nalin Kumar Pandya aka Pan Nalin’s Gujarati film — again lost out to a strong field comprising, among others, the German World War I drama “All Quiet on the Western Front” and the Golden Globe winner, “Argentina, 1985” (the historical drama from Argentina around the fight waged by a group of lawyers against the South American’s...

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is...

India has selected Pan Nalin’s “Last Film Show” (“Chhello Show”) to represent the country in the best international feature category at the upcoming 95th Academy Awards, but it’s not going over well in social media circles. That’s due to the popularity and love for the historical epic, “Rrr” from S.S. Rajamouli, which has been a fan-favorite and box office hit stateside.

The good news is the U.S. distributor for the film has opted to launch a full awards campaign for the action drama and is calling on the 10,000 Academy members to consider voting for the film in all categories.

“Rrr” will be submitted for best picture, director (S.S. Rajamouli), original screenplay (Rajamouli and V. Vijayendra Prasad), lead actor (for both N.T. Rama Rao Jr and Ram Charan), supporting actor (Ajay Devgn), supporting actress (Alia Bhatt), original song (“Naatu Naatu”), original score (M.M. Keeravaani), cinematography,...

Saiyami Kher’s new look from an upcoming film is inspired by late veteran star Nargis Dutt.

In the monochrome pictures of Saiyami, which are from an upcoming film, her look is inspired by the legendary Nargis Dutt. She is seen wearing a simple cotton saree, with a bindi and plaited hair. The look is inspired by Nargis’ character from her 1958 film ‘Lajwanti’.

Saiyami says, “Nargis Dutt is a legend and just mere comparison with her is the biggest compliment I have got and the comparison feels like such an honour. She was just perfect in any form, be it acting, beauty, grace.”

“I have loved most of her movies, ‘Shree 420’, ‘Aag’ and ‘Mother India’ are my favourite. I always wonder how it would have been to live in that era and do films then. I love black and white pictures and films. It’s actually a dream for...

The Notebook Primer introduces readers to some of the most important figures, films, genres, and movements in film history.Garam Hava.“The land is divided, lives are shattered. Storms rage in every heart; it’s the same here or there. Funeral pyres in every home, the flames mount higher. Every city is deserted; it’s the same here or there.”Thus begins M.S. Sathyu’s seminal historical drama Garam Hava (Scorching Winds, 1974), one of the most insightful films about the 1947 Partition of India. The Partition was a cataclysmic migration event in the histories of both India and Pakistan—the “here or there” referenced in these lines by screenwriter and poet Kaifi Azmi, though it’s purposefully not made explicit which refers to which. In Garam Hava, a shoe manufacturer named Salim Mirza (an eloquent final performance in the legendary career of actor Balraj Sahni) watches his family migrate to...

A movie with the action sensibilities of James Cameron and the ambitious scope of George Miller has to be considered a definitive Oscar contender, right? Not without the proper backing by a studio or, in this case, a country that will submit your film for the Academy’s best international feature award.

Enter “Rrr,” a film directed by S. S. Rajamouli, who wrote the script with V. Vijayendra Prasad. The three-hour action epic follows two patriotic but philosophically opposed men (Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr.), who team up to rescue a girl from British colonial officials in 1920s Delhi.

When the 94th Oscar nominations were announced back in January 2022, India’s official submission “Pebbles” was not among the films recognized for international feature. It marked exactly 20 years since India’s last nom in the category.

In fact, only three Indian films in total —”Mother India” (1957), “Salaam Bombay!” (1988) and...

by Nathaniel R

While we're sad about the current state of Oscar we still have 93 other years of Oscar history to obsess over. So I'm happy to share that I was invited back for a final appearance on "The One-Inch Barrier". Juan Carlos Ojano's podcast has looked at every Oscar race for Best International Feature Film while moving backward in time. Well almost every. There's still a few episodes to go. For this episode Juan Carlos and I talked about the nominated films of 1957 including The Gates of Paris (France), the noir The Devil Strikes at Night (Germany), the musical melodrama Mother India (India), the WW II survival drama Nine Lives (Norway), and the winning film Federico Fellini's enchanting Nights of Cabiria (Italy).

Ingmar Bergman's influential early classic The Seventh Seal was also submitted for the Oscars that year but the Academy unwisely passed. I have words about that.

Actor Sanjay Dutt posted a birthday wish for his mother, late actress Nargis, on Instagram, on Tuesday. The actor posted a series of black and white pictures with her and wrote about how there is no one like her.

Nargis can be seen in the pictures with her husband Sunil Dutt and children - Sanjay, Namrata and Priya.

"There's nobody else like you. Happy Birthday Maa," Sanjay wrote, with a heart emoji.

His daughter, Trishala reacted to his post with a series of heart emojis.

Nargis died on May 3, 1981 after battling pancreatic cancer. This was three days before Sanjay made his debut in Bollywood with the film "Rocky".

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sanjay Dutt (@duttsanjay)

The late actress was known for her role of Radha in the film "Mother India" in 1957, besides numerous roles in films like "Raat Aur Din", "Jogan" and "Babul".

Sanjay will...

Core business is a phrase that got familiar with the arrival of corporate houses in the film business. Which is to say, they would stick to the business they came to do and know it better, rather than branch out into other businesses that may look lucrative but you knew little about.

In the film industry, too, the jobs were marked out for people who specialised in or were trained for the task.

But, when it comes to the film industry, every aspirant hopes to become an actor to start with, and aim for stardom. But, there are also those who just want to be a part of the filmmaking process and train to be a cinematographer, choreographer, editor, sound recordist, action director and so on - loosely defined in film parlance as technician.

Be it a star or a star secretary, a technician or an assistant in any department of filmmaking,...

Cinema The film was India's official entry in the Best International Feature Film category at the 93rd Academy awards. Tnm StaffMalayalam film Jallikattu, directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery, is out of the 2021 Oscar race. Jallikattu was India's official entry to the Oscars under the Best International Feature Film category, but has now failed to make it to the longer short list of 15 films in the same category. Feature films from 93 countries were eligible under this category. The films that have made it to the longer shortlist include: Quo Vadis, Aida? from Bosnia and Herzegovina The Mole Agent from Chile Charlatan from the Czech Republic Another Round from Denmark Two of us from France La Llorana from Gautemala Better Days from Hong Kong Sun Children from Iran Night of the Kings from Ivory Coast I'm No Longer Here from Mexico Hope from Norway Collective from Romania Dear Comrades from Russia A Sun...

India’s Oscar entry is screening from Jan 27, 3pm UK time.

Screen International has partnered with film market platform Archipel Market on an exclusive series of screenings focused on the international feature awards race.

This initiative is designed to enable each country to organise an event around their submission.

The upcoming screenings are listed below, with more titles set to be added during this year’s awards season.

The screenings are open to awards voters and industry professionals and will be available for 24 hours after the start time.

Click here to RSVP or fill out the form below

For more...

India’s Oscar entry is screening from Jan 27, 3pm UK time.

Screen International has partnered with film market platform Archipel Market on an exclusive series of screenings focused on the international feature awards race.

This initiative is designed to enable each country to organise an event around their submission.

The upcoming screenings are listed below, with more titles set to be added during this year’s awards season.

The screenings are open to awards voters and industry professionals and will be available for 24 hours after the start time.

Click here to RSVP or fill out the form below

For more...

Nigeria’s Oscar entry is screening from Jan 22, 3pm UK time.

Screen International has partnered with film market platform Archipel Market on an exclusive series of screenings focused on the international feature awards race.

This initiative is designed to enable each country to organise an event around their submission.

The first screenings in the programme are the Oscar entries for India (Jallikattu); Latvia (Blizzard Of Souls); Nigeria (The Milkmaid); and South Africa (Toorbos). More titles will be added during this year’s awards season.

The screenings are open to awards voters and industry professionals and will be available for 24 hours after the start time.

The first titles are the Oscar entries for India, Latvia, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Screen International has partnered with film market Archipel Market on an exclusive series of screenings focused on the international feature awards race.

This initiative is designed to enable each country to organise an event around their submission.

The first screenings in the programme are the Oscar entries for India (Jallikattu); Latvia (Blizzard Of Souls); Nigeria (The Milkmaid); and South Africa (Toorbos). More titles will be added during this year’s awards season.

The screenings are open to awards voters and industry professionals and will be available...

Oscars'Jallikattu' is the third Malayalam movie that has been selected as an entry for the Academy Awards. Tnm StaffLijo Jose Pellissery’s Malayalam film Jallikattu has been selected as India’s entry for the 2021 Academy Awards in the Best International Feature category by the Film Federation of India (Ffi). Jallikattu stars Antony Varghese, Chemban Vinod Jose, Sabumon Abdusamad and Santhy Balachandran, among others. The film is about a buffalo that breaks loose and a village’s attempt to capture it. It’s also an allegorical tale on human civilisation and how easily social structures can crumble in the face of base instincts. Lijo has made critically acclaimed films such as Amen, Angamaly Diaries and Ee.Ma.Yau in the past. Jallikattu was written by S Hareesh and R Jayakumar, and was based on the short story Maoist penned by the former. It premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF...

The Film Federation of India has selected Lijo Jose Pellissery’s “Jallikattu” as the country’s representative in the 2020 Oscars’ best international feature category.

The Malayalam-language film has been a festival favorite around the world having played at Toronto, London, Busan and Stockholm in 2019 and at Rotterdam in 2020. Pellissery won best director at the International Film Festival of India, Goa in 2019.

The film follows a bull that escapes from a slaughterhouse in a hilly remote village and the entire village gathers to hunt down the animal, exposing deep societal fissures in the process.

Reviewing the film for Variety, Jessica Kiang wrote: “Get ready to be gored by cinema’s horns, trampled under a stampede of deliciously grotesque, fleshy imagery and tossed aloft on a buffalo-snort of bravado because Lijo Jose Pellissery’s utterly bonkers ‘Jallikattu’ is here to pummel a Midnight Madness slot near you into submission. A fever-pitch, adrenaline-soaked vortex of social issues drama,...

Ek number manas, if you're a sucker for drama and are one the people who live for Bigg Boss, you've come to the right place.

The reality show has housed many legends who have produced dialogues and catchphrases that put comedy roast insults and Bollywood punchlines to shame. 

Bigg Boss is one of the most entertaining shows. Over the years, it has provided us with every sort of entertainment. Right from bromance and romance, friendships, fights, Bigg Boss has always kept us hooked.

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Inme se kaunsa dialogue hai aapka favourite? We love all of them!

Mumbai, Sep 7 (Ians) Bollywood playback icon Lata Mangeshkar took to social media on Monday to wish her sister Meena Khadikar on her birthday.

"Today, it is the birthday of my young sister Meena Khadikar. She is a very good singer and a music director too. I bless her with long life, good health and happiness," Lata wrote on her official Twitter handle.

She shared a link of one of her song "Ramya ashya sthani" from the Marathi film "Manasala Pankh Astat". The song was composed by Meena.

In another post, Lata shared a video in which Meena, dressed in a blue sari, is smiling and cutting the birthday cake in the presence of her family members.

Meena Khadikar is a renowned singer and music composer in the Marathi film industry. She has also worked as a playback singer in many Hindi films including "Mother India", "Patrani", and "Chandni Chowk".

--Ians...

In observance of India’s Independence Day on Aug. 15 we decided to put together an intro to Hindi films for those interested in dipping their toes in one of the largest film industries in the world. We limited it to Hindi films from Mumbai (except “Bombay”) as India produces nearly 2,000 films a year and has been in the biz since the early 20th century.

Anand

This 1971 drama about a cancer patient who takes up residence in his doctor’s home and changes the latter’s life is a three-hankie film filled with quotable lines by Gulzar. With only four songs, from composer Salil Chowdhury, and no dancing in this original story toplined by Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna was directed by top helmer Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Available on YouTube.

Bombay

Mani Ratnam adapted this love story of an interreligious couple, set against the backdrop of the 1993 Hindu-Muslim riots in Mumbai. With...

The studios of Bollywood are particularly prolific, so there are so many outstanding films to consider when ranking the best flicks to come out of the much-loved Indian movie industry.

While the task may be tough, it is always worth looking back and ranking the contenders, if only to help highlight the best Bollywood movies for those who might not have seen them.

Gambler

Hailing from the early 1970s, this movie tells a classic tale of an orphaned boy named Raja who is taken under the wing of a mysterious benefactor, learning the art of gambling to make ends meet and ultimately attempting to flee the criminal lifestyle while clearing his name for a murder he did not commit.

As well as featuring a compelling dramatic narrative, the soundtrack to Gambler is also a treat, even after all these years. Dev Anand is electric in the lead role and the...

Dancing diva Malaika Arora shot to fame with the song "Chaiyya chaiyya" back in 1998. She feels that though there is a trend of remixes these days, the Ar Rahman composition is one of those numbers that simply shouldn't be touched.

The song "Chaiyya chaiyya", sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi, for the Mani Rathnam film "Dil Se" is an all-time favourite dance number of most people. Its video featured Malaika and superstar Shah Rukh Khan matching steps atop a train, and continues to be popular.

Also Read:?Malaika Arora reminisces about her days of struggle

Malaika recently danced to the number in an episode of the new dance reality show, "India's Best Dancer". Asked about it, Malaika told Ians: "When you play that song, you can't help but get up and dance. It is an iconic song. When I shot the song, Geeta (Kapur) was assisting Farah (Khan) at that time.

Academy AwardsOf the 52 entries sent by India so far, only 20 have been in languages other than Hindi – what explains this? Sowmya RajendranIndia has decided that the 2019 entry for the Best International Feature Film category in the Academy Awards will be Gully Boy, a Hindi film directed by Zoya Akhtar. The response to the announcement has been mixed, considering there are several other Indian films which received critical acclaim this year. A few hours before the announcement was made, there were discussions on social media about the films that were reportedly in contention – these included the critically acclaimed blockbuster Andhadhun as well as a handful of south Indian films, namely Super Deluxe (Tamil), And the Oskar Goes To (Malayalam), Dear Comrade (Telugu), Olu (Malayalam), Oththa Seruppu Size 7 (Tamil), Uyare (Malayalam), and Vada Chennai (Tamil). While Gully Boy received mostly positive reviews, the film has similarities to the 2002 American film 8 Mile...

The Film Federation of India has chosen Zoya Akhtar’s “Gully Boy” as its entry in the Academy Awards’ international feature film category.

The picture, a coming of age tale about an aspiring rapper in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum premiered at the Berlin film festival in February before opening to a wave of acclaim at home in India.

Starring Bollywood A-listers Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, the film grossed some $37 million worldwide.

Excel Entertainment produced alongside Tiger Baby Productions.

The selection jury was chaired by veteran actress and filmmaker Aparna Sen (“Sonata”)

India has been submitting to the category formerly known as foreign language film since 1957.

The country has been nominated three times, beginning with its first entry “Mother India” in 1957, followed by “Salaam Bombay” in 1988 and “Lagan” in 2001. It is yet to win the category.