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The Oscars are coming. The Oscars are coming. Well, people time has come again when India has to send an entry to the Oscars in the foreign film-category. Bollywood has seen a hoard of path-breaking films this year. Will one of them succeed? Will a regional film be selected like Shwaas 2004 or like the numerous Kamal Hassan films that have already been passed? Or like it happened many a times that the jury felt there was no film which was substantial enough to compete against other world class film?

IndiaFM short-listed three Hindi films - Rang De Basanti, Omkara and Lagey Raho Munnabhai to be our guess to the Oscars this year. We met up with some prominent celebrities and asked them what they thought. Some were fast with their answers while some were just plain critical of our choices. Let's see what they had to say.

Firstly we met up with Sudhir Mishra who was definitely not shy of words. In fact his last film Hazaaron Khwashien Aisi was one of the films in contention to go to the Oscars last year but lost out to Paheli. "All these three film were good but in my opinion Lagey Raho Munnabhai was a little better. It was the best film from the three. But your shortlist and my choice are from a Bombay-centric point of view. There are much better films from the South and Calcutta. Our viewpoint is only when we think of popular cinema. If Satyajit Ray's or Bimal Roy's movies or even Adoor Gopalakrishnan films went to the Oscar's we would have won at least 2 or 3 Oscars by now”, said he.

If Satyajit Ray's or Bimal Roy's movies or even Adoor Gopalakrishnan films went to the Oscar's we would have won at least 2 or 3 Oscars by now

He went onto add, "Movies that are selected from Spain are not big and popular movies. The jury there has a different mindset altogether. According to me the Oscar Committee from India should have people from all over India from different sections of the industry and not just people who limit their thinking. This will be the best committee and their mindset will be unbiased.”

Last year's entry Paheli met with a mixed response when it was selected. The selection jury was mocked at and many believed that lobbying was done for the film. People believe that movies like Iqbal, Hazaaron Khwashien Aisi and Black were better contenders. On questioning Sudhir about this he said, "If you really think so then someone should do something about this. My film is a thing of the past but one should not let this happen to another Hazaaron Khwashien Aisi which comes out tomorrow.”

Truly, it has been seen that post Lagaan, the biggies are being preferred. The magnum opus Devdas had oppositions in the form of regional films. Devdas apart from its huge sets also had a lot of songs as it was a musical.

Director Sriram Raghavan of Ek Haseena Thi fame couldn't really decide, "I don't know if it is possible for two movies to go to the Oscars but I would certainly love to see Lagey Raho Munnabhai and Rang De Basanti to go. I think they will appeal to a non-Indian audience. I think both those movies are very Indian and depict our history well in a very interesting way be it Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh. They are skillfully woven into the film and above all both these movies have the main Bollywood culture- Big Stars and Song 'n' Dance.”

Then the thoroughly informed and perpetually critical Anurag Kashyap just could not contain himself, "The only film that I think has a shot at the Oscars is Omkara. But frankly speaking none of our films are what one should call quality. Some of the films that come out of Brazil, Denmark and France are what one should call competitive films. The quality of our best film is very low and to be in the top 30 will also be a problem. I don't know why people in India are wasting their time at the Oscars. Rather they should concentrate on making better films so that we have something to talk about.”

The quality of our best film is very low and to be in the top 30 will also be a problem. I don't know why people in India are wasting their time at the Oscars. Rather they should concentrate on making better films so that we have something to talk about.

Remember Sandeep Sawant? Well, in a loose sense you can say that his film Shwaas was sandwiched between the two SRK biggies Devdas and Paheli. Well, he came very close two years ago when his directed film was selected by the jury to represent India at the Oscars. Though the film didn't manage to get a nomination, it was well appreciated. "I haven't seen Lagey Raho… or Rang De Basanti but Omkara was a well made film. Apart from these three films I think there will be competition from regional films as well. The National awards are not yet declared and so the intensity of regional films is not yet known.”

And we caught up with none other than Seema Biswas who is on a high. "I haven't gotten a chance to see Lagey Raho… or Omkara but I heard they are excellent films. As for Rang De… I simply loved it. It was technically modern but very thoughtful and patriotic. I saw the film in Chennai and the Tamil crowd got so emotional while watching it. The film had a lot of relevance and also appealed to the youth.”

Now why is she on a high? Simple, her movie Water is Canada's official entry to the Oscars. "I am very happy though I would have wanted it to be India's entry definitely. The setting was in India as was the whole star-cast but since it was produced by a Canadian, so it belongs to Canada. But I thank God for the opportunity and I hope the film does well for itself.”

Madame Kalpana Lajmi whose film Rudaali was sent to the Oscars in 1994, however, was diplomatic when we quizzed her about her opinion, "I don't want to comment on this because I don't want to favour anyone as all of them are my contemporaries.”

Albeit these words are from India's finest, we wish all the good movies around, best of luck and the same to the jury who are selecting the movie to make the right decision and bring out India's best into the limelight.