Ahmedabad: Early in the movie Chhello Show, the wide-eyed protagonist Samay, a young boy in a small village in Gujarat’s Saurashtra region, discovers ‘fillam’ (film) and gets enamoured by the 35mm medium of sound and light playing at the speed of 24 frames a second. In more ways than one, it depicts how Pan Nalin, a US-based filmmaker with roots in Gujarat, discovered and got hooked to films for life some five decades ago.

It was a euphoric moment for Nalin and the entire team of Chhello Show (Last Film Show) when the movie was officially selected by Film Federation of India (FFI) to represent India at the 95th Academy Awards, or the Oscars, in 2023.

After the 2013 film The Good Road, this is the second Gujarati language movie to be nominated for the Oscars where it will compete in the ‘Best International Feature Film’ category. Nalin said Chhello Show as India’s official Oscars entry reflects the changing taste and universal values that worked in favour of the film that has no big stars or streamers behind it.

“The movie has been on the international film festival circuit for the past several months and has won a number of awards, including the Golden Spike in Spain. It’s incredible that we were chosen from among so many big releases this year,” said Nalin.

“It’s perhaps has to do with the universal power of stories. During the pandemic, Indians were exposed to many stories from countries like South Korea, Mexico, Spain… Similarly, the world is also exploring our stories. ”

Almost all the actors in the film Chhello Show are debutants.