'Jallikattu' is India's official Oscar entry
New Delhi: Malayalam feature "Jallikattu", directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery, has been selected as India's official entry for the International Feature Film category at the 93rd Academy Awards, the Film Federation of India (FFI) announced on Thursday.
"Jallikattu", which was unanimously chosen from 27 entries across Hindi, Marathi and other languages, is about a tribe of men coming together to stop a bull that has run amok in their village.
"There were a total of 27 films that had entered the race from Hindi, Malayalam and Marathi. The film which has been nominated by the jury to represent India at Oscars is Malayalam film 'Jallikattu'.
"It is a film that really brings out the raw problems which are there in human beings, that is we are worse than animals," filmmaker Rahul Rawail, Chairman, Jury Board, Film Federation of India, told reporters in an online press conference.
The film, which derives its name from the popular-yet-controversial bull-taming event from the South, is based on a short story by Hareesh.
It features actors Antony Varghese, Chemban Vinod Jose, Sabumon Abdusamad and Santhy Balachandran.
Among the films that were considered by the jury included titles such as "Chhapaak", "Shakuntala Devi", "Chhalaang", "Gulabo Sitabo", "Eeb Allay Ooo!", "The Sky is Pink", "Bulbbul and internationally-celebrated feature "The Disciple".
Calling Pellissery a "very competent director", known for several critically acclaimed films like "Angamaly Diaries" and "Ea Ma Yau", Rawail said "Jallikattu" is a production that country should be proud of.
"The whole film talks about an animal that has run amok in a butcher's shop... The film has been depicted wonderfully and it has been shot very well. The emotion that comes out really moved all of us to have it selected," the chairman said.
"Jallikattu" had its premiere on September 2019 at the Toronto International Film Festival and received widespread critical acclaim.
The movie was particularly praised for Pellissery's spectacular directing effort, ably supported by Girish Gangadharan's cinematography and Renganaath Ravee's wild sound design work.
Pellissery also won the best director trophy at the 50th International Film Festival of India last year.
In 2019, Zoya Akhtar's "Gully Boy", starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, was India's entry to the Oscars.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
