'Court' is India's entry for Oscars

Chaitanya Tamhane's debut Marathi movie "Court", a courtroom drama which won a National Film Award, was on Wednesday chosen as India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 88th Academy Awards.

The news was confirmed to IANS by Supran Sen, secretary general of the Film Federation of India (FFI), which selects the country's official entry in the Best Foreign Film category of the prestigious Oscars.

This year, the 17-member jury to choose the entry was headed by veteran actor-filmmaker Amol Palekar, who also confirmed to IANS that "Court" is the chosen one.

According to reports, "PK", "Masaan", "Mary Kom", "Haider", "Kaaka Muttai", "Baahubali" and "Kuttram Kadithal" were among the films that the jury also watched.

"Court" -- about a trial which unfolds in a lower court, where the hopes and dreams of the city's ordinary people play out -- won the National Film Award in the Best Feature Film category for 2014.

Featuring impactful performances by actors Vivek Gomber, Vira Sathidar, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Pradeep Joshi, Usha Bane and Shirish Pawar, the movie did its fair share of rounds at foreign movie galas after premiering at the 71st Venice International Film Festival last year.

Last year, "Liar's Dice", a road drama starring Geetanjali Thapa and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in lead roles, was selected as India's official entry to the Best Foreign Film category of Oscars, but it failed to make it to the top five at the Academy Awards.

The 88th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on February 28, 2016.