Zoya Akhtar's 'Gully Boy' India's official entry to 92nd Academy Awards
New Delhi, Sep 21: Director Zoya Akhtar's "Gully Boy", featuring Ranveer Singh in the lead, has been selected as India's official entry in the International Feature Film category at the 92nd Academy Awards, the Film Federation of India announced on Saturday.
The movie, which released commercially across the country in February this year, also features Alia Bhatt, Vijay Raaz, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Vijay Varma and Amruta Subhash.
"India's official entry for Oscars this year is 'Gully Boy'. There were 27 films in the running this year but it was an unanimous decision to select 'Gully Boy'," FFI secretary general Supran Sen told PTI.
Celebrated actor-filmmaker Aparna Sen was the head of the jury for this year's selection committee.
"Gully Boy", produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, featured Ranveer as an up-and-coming rapper who sets out to achieve his dream by rhyming about his life on the Mumbai streets.
Farhan took to Twitter to congratulate the team behind the film, which was one of the most critically-acclaimed Hindi movies of 2019.
"Gully Boy has been selected as India's official entry to the 92nd Oscar Awards. #apnatimeaayega. Thank you to the film federation and congratulations #Zoya @kagtireema @ritesh_sid @RanveerOfficial @aliaa08 @SiddhantChturvD @kalkikanmani
& cast, crew and hip hop crew," he wrote.
Kalki, who played a pivotal role in the movie, also expressed her excitement on the film's Oscar selection.
"Woweeeeeeeee! That is just the best Saturday evening news!" she tweeted.
No Indian film has ever won an Oscar. The last Indian film that made it to the final five in the Best Foreign Film category list was Ashutosh Gowariker's "Lagaan" in 2001.
"Mother India" (1958) and "Salaam Bombay" (1989) are the other two Indian movies to have made it to the top five.
Assamese film "Village Rockstars", directed by Rima Das, was India's official submission to the Oscars last year.
The 92nd Academy Awards will be announced February 9, 2020.
#GullyBoy has been selected as India’s official entry to the 92nd Oscar Awards. #apnatimeaayega
— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) September 21, 2019
Thank you to the film federation and congratulations #Zoya @kagtireema @ritesh_sid @RanveerOfficial @aliaa08 @SiddhantChturvD @kalkikanmani & cast, crew and hip hop crew. ?? pic.twitter.com/Eyg02iETmG
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Tharoor, Surpriya Sule among seven MPs to lead India’s diplomatic outreach after Operation Sindoor
New Delhi: In a bid to reinforce India’s united stand against terrorism, the Union government on Saturday announced that Opposition leaders Shashi Tharoor, Supriya Sule and Kanimozhi are among the MP’s who will lead all-party delegations to “partner nations” following Operation Sindoor.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju made the announcement on social media platform X, stating: “In moments that matter most, Bharat stands united.” He added that the delegations will represent India’s message of zero-tolerance against terrorism, underlining national unity that transcends political lines.
“The all-party delegations will project India’s national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations. They would carry forth to the world the country’s strong message of zero-tolerance against terrorism,” the parliamentary affairs ministry said.
https://twitter.com/KirenRijiju/status/1923588921365069973
It added that MPs from several parties, notable political figures and diplomats will be part of each delegation.
The seven leaders heading these delegations are: Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Supriya Sule (NCP – Sharad Pawar faction), Kanimozhi (DMK), Ravi Shankar Prasad (BJP), Baijayant Panda (BJP), Sanjay Kumar Jha (JDU), and Shrikant Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena).
Several other political figures are reportedly expected to be included in the diplomatic exercise, including BJP leaders Nishikant Dubey, Bansuri Swaraj, Anurag Thakur, M.J. Akbar, Samik Bhattacharya, and Daggubati Purandeswari; Congress leaders Salman Khurshid and Manish Tewari; AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi; Democratic Progressive Azad Party’s Ghulam Nabi Azad; and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi.
As per reports, each delegation will likely include 7–8 members and is expected to visit 4–5 countries over a span of approximately 10 days.
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