Rang De Basanti to compete in eight categories at the Oscars

New Delhi, Oct 1 (UNI) 'Rang De Basanti', Indian's official entry to the Oscars in the Foreign Film category, will also be competing in seven other mainline categories at the prestigious awards, the producer of the film Ronnie Screwvala said today.

'Rang de Basanti', chosen by the Film Federation of India on Monday as India's nominee to the Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category, will now also compete in seven other categories including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Art Direction and Best Sound Design at the 79th Annual Academy Awards, CEO of UTV Ronnie Screwvala told UNI here.

''There is only one official entry per country in the coveted foreign language film category besides that we have also applied in 7 Mainline Categories,'' Ronnie Screwvala said.

Talking about the decision to send the film in seven other mainline categories, besides the Best foreign Film category, Mr Screwvala said, the day Rang De Basanti was selected as india's entry for the Best Foreign Film category, we also had decided to send the film in other categories. For, we have all along felt that besides a brilliant story and screenplay, Rang De Basanti has a world class production facilities be it in its cinematography, sound design or art direction.

''And, since, promoting the film in the Best Film Category would in any case require a huge amount of effort and expenditure to raise awareness for the film among the academy members, it made sense to send the film in several mainline categories as well.'' He, however, said their focus would remain on getting an award in the Best foreign language category at the Oscars.

''Our main focus would, however, remain on trying to secure the Best foreign Language Film Oscar for the film. As for competing in other mainline categories, we will try to give it our best shot,'' Mr Screwvala said.

The news of 'Rang De Basanti' competing for eight categories comes close on the heels of the producers of 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' deciding to send the film to the Oscars as an independent entry.

Asked about recent reports of Lage Raho Munnabhai also sending in an application to the Oscars, Mr Screwvala said, ''firstly, in the Foreign Language Category no other film can apply from India.

Therefore, Rang De Basanti will not be competing with any other Indian film. Secondly, it is true that any film can apply in the mainline Category but then you are up against all the Hollywood Majors, where we too have applications in 7 such categories''.

When further queried whether he would have applied separately had Rang De Basanti not been the official entry, Mr Screwvala said, ''No. I don't think we would have send the film as an independent entry had it not been officially nominated from India. I don't think it would have been adviseable. We believe there should only be one entry per country and for us now Rang De Basanti does not belong to UTV or Rakeysh Mehra but to every Indian''.

'Rang De Basanti' was On Monday chosen by the Film Federation of India above eight other contenders to represent India at the Oscars this year.

'Rang De basanti' pipped Rakesh Roshan's 'Krrish', Karan Johar's 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna', Naseeruddin Shah's 'Yun Hota To Kya Hota', Rajkumar Hirani's 'Lage Raho Munnabhai', Vishal Bharadwaj's 'Omkara', Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Corporate', Marathi film 'Bhook' and Telugu film 'Amma Chepindi' for the honour.

The entry of 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' and 'Water' and, now, the producers of 'Rang De Basanti' deciding to send the film for seven other mainline categories makes it a path-breaking year for Indian cinema in terms of India's race for the Oscars.

Trade analysts feel that both 'Rang De Basanti' and 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' are brilliant film in terms of their impact on the Indian psyche.

For example, 'Rang De Basanti' has, over the past few months, has cast a tremendous impact on the people with its message of 'standing up to a cause' akin to our freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh and Rajguru, The effect of the film can be seen from the infamous Jessica Lal verdict to the Narmada anti-dam campaign to the latest protest marches against the proposed quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in institutes of higher learning. Protests forms in India have undergone a sea change from the usual hunger-strike, mob-violence routine.

Simultaneously , 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' has driven home the message of relevance of Gandhiji's ideals of satyagraha and non-violence in today's world.

Trade analysts feel that with such universal themes, 'Rang De Basanti' and 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' stand a strong chance of making it in the final five at the Oscars.

It also give India a strong chance of bagging the coveted Oscars which eluded Ashutosh Gowarikar's 'Lagaan' in 2002 after it lost the race to Bosnia's 'No man's land by a whisker.

Now, with 'Rang De Basanti' competing for eight categories and 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' also being in the fray, chances of India bringing home the Oscars have definitely brightened.

UNI