'Water' Oscar nomination: kudos for Canada, hope for India

New Delhi, Jan 24: An Oscars nomination in the 'Best Foreign Language Film' for Deepa Mehta's 'Water' may have evoked much cheer in film circles in India but observers feel that the film making a mark at the prestigious awards will go down in cinematic history more as 'kudos' for Canadian cinema than an achievement for Indian cinema.

The film, which last evening made it to the final five at the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film' category along with 'Pan's Labrinth' (Mexico), 'After The Wedding' (Denmark), 'Days of Glory' and the German Cold War drama 'The Lives of Others', did so as an entry from Canada and not India.

Rakeysh Mehra's 'Rang De Basanti', India's official entry for the Oscars in the category, failed to make it to the shortlist of nine films announced by the Academy last week, just ahead of announcement of the final five nominees. Also failing to figure in the list of Oscars nominees was Raj Kumar Hirani's 'Lage Raho Munnabhai', which was sent by its producers as an independent entry.

Viewed in this sense, an Oscar nomination for 'Water', starring Bollywood hunk John Abraham and model-turned actor Lisa Ray in lead roles, is in large part a result of the huge promotional efforts for the film by its Canadian producers.

Infact, Mongrel Media and Fox Searchlight, which released the film in Canada and 57 other countries, including the United Kingdom and Denmark, have, in the past few months, launched a vigorous nomination campaign in Hollywood in a bid to seek the attention of the Oscars Academy.

All this, however, does not take away anything from the cinematic merit of the film, dealing with the plight of widows in India in the 1930s. The film has, in the last few years, won critical acclaim at several international film festivals, including being screened to a standing ovation at the Toronto film festival in 2005.

Infact, the film's lead star John Abraham has said the global acclaim for the film has contributed in large part to his popularity in Canada.

''It was great to know that even as we went for 'Kabul Express', which opened the Toronto International festival last year, people there still recognize you for 'Water',''John says.

'Water' is also among the few films by a Bollywood filmmaker to secure a theatrical release in the United States and Canada. The film has already brought in 5.6 million Dollars at the North American box office after it played in 150 theaters. For filmmaker Deepa Mehta, however, the Oscar nomination for 'Water', the third in the trilogy after 'Fire' and '1942:Earth', is really special. ''I'm thrilled! It means a lot to me. It's a film that's very personal, and we've had such a difficult time with it, so it feels good,''she said.

Clearly elated at her first Oscars nomination, she said,''for me a nomination is what counts... now it doesn't matter who wins.'' On chance of 'Water' winning the coveted Oscar, Canadian producer David Hamilton, who produced the film jointly with Mehta, said,''It's a pretty competitive year, there's no question about that...

it's going to be interesting.'' He said the nomination for 'Water' was a result of a vigorous nomination campaign in Hollywood, which, he says, will now switch into phase two. ''You can't convince people to vote for a film but you can remind them that they liked it,''he said.

'Water' is the fourth film by an Indian filmmaker to get a nomination at the prestigious awards, after Mehboob Khan's 'Mother India' (in the 50s), Mira Nair's 'Salaam Bombay' (1988) and Ashutosh Gowarikar's 'Lagaan' ( 2001).

It may be an entry to the Oscars from Canada, but an Oscar for 'Water' would definitely be a 'Feather in the Cap' for Indian cinema, considering that in its over six decade long history, no film has won the coveted Oscar.

Infact, a look at the recent decades shows that only three of the films send by India at the Oscars in the last decade and a half managed to bag a nomination. Also, of the three films nominated so far by the Academy - 'Mother India', 'Salaam Bombay' and 'Lagaan', none managed to bring home the coveted Oscar.

Over the years, sending films for the Oscars seemed to have become a routine exercise which hardly evoked attention or excitement in media circles. Nor was the exercise accompanied by much hopes of the film bringing an Oscar home.

However, the exercise of choosing a nominee for the Oscars evoked tremendous excitement in media and film circles in 2001 what with films like Mira Nair's "Monsoon Wedding", Anil Sharma's "Gadar", Santosh Sivan's "Asoka" and Aamir Khan's "Lagaan", most of which critics believed were worthy of winning an Oscar, competing with each other for being sent to the academy awards.

Ultimately, "Lagaan", considered by many critics in India as well as abroad as "Oscar material" due to its cinematic brilliance in all aspects of film making, was chosen as India's entry from among ten contenders.

True to the hype around it, the film won an Oscars nomination in the best foreign film category along with films like "Amelie"(France), "No man's land"(Bosnia), "Eling"(Norway) and "Son of the Bride"(Argentina).

Infact, analysts say that had it not been for its inordinate length(nearly four hours long) and its anti-British tilt, the film could well have fetched for India its first Oscar award.

This year too has been a pathbreaking one for Indian cinema with a host of 'New Age film getting critical acclaim and public response in equal measure and films like 'Lage Raho Munnabhai', 'Khosla Ka Ghosla', 'Dor' and 'Maine Gandhi ko Nahin Maara' making rounds of several international film festivals. Infact, 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' became the first Indian film to be screened at the United Nations.

Also, hope is still not lost for 'Rang De Basanti' which earlier this month, secured a BAFTA nomination in the Best Non English Film category.

The film was nominated in the 'Film Not in the English Language' category along with 'Apocalypto', 'Black Book', 'Pan's Labyrinth' and 'Volver'. The awards will be held on February 11 at the Royal Opera House in London.

UNI