While Rajkummar Rao’s satire, Newton, becomes India’s 47th Oscar entry that didn’t make it to the top five, the film fraternity continues to remain hopeful about a win, someday
Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; December 16, 2017)

Newton, unanimously selected by the Film Federation of India (FFI) jury to represent the country at the 90th edition of the Academy Awards to be held in Los Angeles on March 4, 2018, is out of the race in the Best Foreign Language film category.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that the satire hasn’t progressed to the top nine film line-up despite winning accolades back home. A Fantastic Woman (Chile), In The Fade (Germany), On Body And Soul (Hungary), Foxtrot (Israel), The Insult (Lebanon), Loveless (Russia), Felicite (Senegal), The Wound (South Africa) and The Square (Sweden) have made the cut and will proceed to the next round of voting.

Since 1957 (when India sent its first entry), only three Indian entries have made it to the top five nominations at the coveted Oscar Awards — Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay (1988) and Lagaan (2001). Newton is the 47th entry that hasn’t made it to top slot.

Amit V Masurkar, who directed the Rajkummar Rao-starrer, says, “The competition is very tough, it’s the equivalent of Olympics for cinema. Most of the films in the competition have done fabulously well in the international domain. Even Newton received positive reactions at every screening. So, it doesn’t feel bad that we couldn’t make it. I’m glad we were chosen to represent India on such a massive platform.”

Filmmaker C V Reddy, who headlined the committee that selected Newton, says, “We’re still very proud of the choice we made. The rest is a film’s own destiny.” Supran Sen of the FFI, adds, “We thought that this was the best film on the table. Promoting it in the US is a producer’s prerogative and responsibility. We can’t help it if our entry is not chosen in the top five.”

Filmmaker Ketan Mehta, who has previously been on the FFI panel that selects India’s entry to the Oscars, believes that Indian cinema is yet to start communicating with the world. “There’s exciting cinema all over the world — American and European films talk beyond the borders. Their majority market is outside their borders, which is not the case for India. We are still hugely dependent on our domestic market, which is less than two per cent of the world market. Fortunately, even in that space, our market is robust for so many films to be made, but we are still shying away from being adventurous and global with our content. Also, we need exceptionally deep pockets to market the film in the US before the Oscars,” adds Ketan.

However, Amit V Masurkar disagrees on the importance of lobbying. “It’s not about lobbying at that stage; it’s largely about the content. The competing films are hugely followed by reputed festivals the world over, something that might be making a difference. We were good, but maybe, someone was better.”

Actor-filmmaker Anupam Kher, who has straddled Hollywood and Bollywood films and is currently the head of FTII, Pune, questions India’s obsession with the Oscar. He adds, “Oscars are their awards, and they follow their own process of screening and voting. We haven’t seen the other contenders in the category. How do we know someone wasn’t better than us? We feel heartbroken each year, but don’t make adequate effort to introspect and learn. Newton is a brilliant film, but maybe, we need to up the game. Oscar has been a long chase but maybe, we’ll get there, soon.”

Over the last decade, Visaranai, Court, Liar’s Dice, Barfi!, Adaminte Makan Abu, Peepli Live, Harishchandrachi Factory, Taare Zameen Par, Eklavya: The Royal Guard and Rang De Basanti, were sent as India’s entries to the Oscar. While some of them reportedly couldn’t garner the right response, it was argued that Barfi! was similar in essence to Charlie Chaplin films.

Newton had also faced a similar situation shortly after its selection from India was announced. There were discussions on social media platforms insinuating that the concept of the film was borrowed from the Iranian film, The Secret Ballot. Recently, during a chat with Naseeruddin Shah he spoke about the controversy around the movie and expressed his concern, “For the first time, we unanimously chose one entry for the Oscar, but even then, someone tried to damage its chances by saying that it’s a copy of some Iranian film. Need I say more?” The actor believes that India’s desire to win the Oscar stems from the urge to be seen and heard on a worldwide platform. However, he had argued that Hindi movies have a larger audience globally than Hollywood movies. He had added, “I have seen the so-called big hits in the US run to empty theatres in their very first week. While we outnumber them in terms audience strength, we have a massive fascination for the Oscar. We desperately want to be photographed by the world, holding the trophy. We might get something in costume design or maybe cinematography; chances for those are also bleak. We won an Oscar for Gandhi (Bhanu Athaiya for costume), but the campaign began before the film was shot and it was run by a Hollywood studio. Their studios recognize Oscar material and promote it while it’s being made, we don’t.”

Subhash K Jha (DNA; September 26, 2017)

Amit Masurkar’s Newton, India’s official entry to the Oscars, has been granted Rs 1 crore by the Government..

‘It was most unexpected’
Newton’s much-feted lead Rajkummar Rao agrees this is an unusual largesse from the powers-that-be. “It was unexpected. But certainly needed. I spoke to the relevant official and he assured me of all possible support and cooperation in our journey to the Oscars. We, my director and I, had no idea as to how to proceed to the Oscars. The Government’s fund has opened up doors. Now we just need to walk through those doors.”

Let’s plan
The question is, how? “Well,” dwells Raj, “We need to sit down and chalk out a plan. My producers Manish Mundra and Aanand L Rai will be meeting up with people who have experience in taking our cinema to the Oscars.” Aamir Khan and Anil Kapoor should expect a call.

Chalo America
The actor, who has wrapped up yet another challenging role as Subhas Chandra Bose, admits, he will have to take time off to be in the US for the very serious process of lobbying that preludes the Oscar nominations in the US. “I understand, I have to be in America for a while and I am prepared to take time off. It is pointless to expect Newton to make the cut without our effort. We need to push our film to the furthest point possible.”

“The plagiarism charge changes nothing for Newton,” says Film Federation Chief
After the announcement of Newton as official Indian entry to the Oscars, a sudden plagiarism charge and a debate on its eligibility has blown up.

Supran Sen, the Secretary-General of the Film Federation Of India, which selects the film to go to the Oscars, says, “The Iranian film has been around for 16 years. Newton was premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February. If at all there were similarities between Newton and the other film, why didn’t anyone notice it? Why did this question suddenly come up after the film was selected by us to go to the Oscars?”

Sen says this controversy doesn’t change anything for the film. “No rule for the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars states that any likeness to any other film in any form is a disqualification. We’ve full faith in the team behind the film and we stand by the film, as of now.”