Films chosen to represent India at Oscars should be backed:SRK

New Delhi, Oct 13 (UNI) Throwing his lot behind a beleaguered Vidhu Vinod Chopra whose film Eklavya's selection as India's entry to Oscars has kicked up a row, Bollywood's 'King Khan' Shahrukh today said any film chosen to represent India at an international platform should receive full backing of everyone in the country.

Talking to reporters after his address at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here, Shahrukh, referring to the controversy over 'Eklavya as the Indian entry to the Oscar awards for the Best foreign Film Category, said, ''The controversy over which film to send for the Oscars will always remain. After all, there are so many kinds of cinemas in India, all of which are cinematically brilliant pieces of cinema and hence deserve to be selected for being sent to the Oscar awards.'' ''There are so many beautiful films being made in India. So, there is invariably a controversy over the selection of one film over the other. For example, when my film 'Paheli' was selected, there were many who believed that there were far more deserving films worthy of winning the coveted Oscars,'' Shahrukh, who was accompanied by close buddy and renowned filmmaker Karan Johar, said.

Shahrukh said the selection process in any field or discipline in India, be it politics, sports or the job selection process, was questionable.

''In all the cases, a particular committee makes a decision about the film to be sent to the Oscars. The choice may be different in the case of another committee. In this context, I feel that if a particular film is chosen to represent India at the prestigious International platform, then we all should back it fully,'' Shahrukh said.

Questioned on the issue, filmmaker Karan Johar said, ''I will not say that 'Eklavya' is the wrong choice to represent India at the Oscars. After all, it has been chosen by the committee appointed for the purpose and needs to be backed fully.'' Karan, however, added that of all the films this year, he liked 'Chak De India' the most.

''So, 'Chak De India' would be my choice for anything,'' the filmmaker added.

Eklavya's selection as India's entry for the Oscars snowballed into a controversy with Bhawna Talwar, the producer of 'Dharm' filing a petition in the Bombay High Court against the film's selection by the FFI, the body that choses the film to represent India at the Oscars.

The High Court said the process used to select Vidhu Vinod Chopra's film was 'biased', as some of the jury members were his close friends.

Infact, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently wrote a letter to the Film Federation of India expressing concern over the confusing situation that had developed with respect to India's Foreign Language entry to the Oscars.

It also expressed surprise that Indian courts were adjudicating aesthetic decisions like selecting films. The letter further asked the FFI to have more defensible internal standards for selecting entries for the Academy Awards.

However, despite the controversy, Eklavya has been accepted as the Indian entry.

To the critics of Eklavya's selection, Vidhu Vinod Chopra pointed out that the Los Angeles Times described Eklavya as one of Sir David Lean's lost films.

UNI