Film maker Samruddhi Porey has a moment of pride
After receiving overwhelming response for her Marathi film ‘Dr.Prakash Baba Amte- The real hero’, the biopic on social worker and Magsaysay Award winner from Maharashtra, filmmaker Samruddhi Porey shot the hindi version of this film titled ‘Hemalkasa’, with the same lead pair of Nana Patekar and Sonali Kulkarni. And, the good news is that this film has entered the final round of Oscars competition.
It may be recalled that when ‘Court’ was India’s official entry for the foreign language category, ‘Hemalkasa’ was admitted in the open category, along with three more regional language films, namely ‘Nachomiya Kum Pasar( Konkani), ‘Jalam( Malyalam) & ‘Rangi Tarang( Kannada). And, now the news has reached us that ‘Hemalkasa’ is the only film Indian film which has been admitted in the final round for the 88th Academy awards. This will make the film eligible for the competition to receive nomination in the best film, best actor and best actress category.
But, all this was possible because of the hard work put in by Samruddhi Porey in Los Angeles , for the past 3- 4 months, going through all the stages of formalities to show the film to the members of Jury. Now, all eyes on this film, to see,
whether it receives nominations in the three categories mentioned above, when the final list will be declared on 14th January 2016.
Amol Palekar is now chief of Jury, to select Indian film for Oscars
” There are several Indian films in the race for ‘Oscars’ ” and all are best. It’s really tough to choose one ; which is also good sign. I will sit with my colleagues and also listen to them, before choosing the best one,” said Mr. Amol Palekar, newly appointed chairman of 16 member Jury, to select the best Indian film for ‘Oscars’ entry.
Mr Palekar who was once upon a time known as ‘middle-class superstar‘ with hit movies like, ‘Rajanigandha’, ‘Chhoti is Baat’, ‘Chit Chor‘, ‘Golmaal’ etc; later directed movies like ‘Aakriet’, ‘Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaye’ and Shahrukh Khan starrer ‘Paheli’, which represented India at the ‘Oscars’.
In this new task, Amol Palekar along with other jury members, will be responsible to select a movie which will be India’s official entry to next year’s ‘Oscars’.
It is understood that though the final guidelines for the selection of films have not been formulated, Mr . Palekar maintains to have unanimous selection process.
The Actor-director Amol Palekar’s appointment as a chairman of prestigious ‘Indian Oscar Jury’ has also been supported by ‘Film Federation of India’.
MMW congratulates Mr Amol Palekar on his new appointment.