'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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Bhopal gas tragedy: Effects of leak seen in next generation of survivors, says ex-forensic doctor
Bhopal (PTI): The effects of poisonous gases that leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal 40 years ago were seen in the next generations of those who survived the tragedy, a former government forensic doctor has said.
At least 3,787 people were killed, and more than five lakh were affected after a toxic gas leaked from the pesticide factory in the city on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984.
Speaking at an event held by organisations of gas tragedy survivors on Saturday, Dr D K Satpathy, former head of the forensics department of Bhopal's Gandhi Medical College, said he performed 875 post-mortems on the first day of the disaster and witnessed 18,000 autopsies the next five years.
Sathpathy claimed Union Carbide had denied questions about the effects of poisonous gases on unborn children of women survivors and said effects would not cross the placental barrier in the womb in any condition.
He said blood samples of pregnant women who died in the tragedy were examined, and it was found that 50 per cent of poisonous substances found in the mother were also found in the child in her womb.
Children born to surviving mothers had the poisonous substances in their system, and this affected the health of the next generation, Sathpathy claimed and questioned why research on this was stopped.
Such effects will continue for generations, he said.
Satpathy said it was said that MIC gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant, and when it came in contact with water, thousands of gases were formed, and some of these caused cancer, blood pressure and liver damage.
Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said Satpathy, who carried out most autopsies, and other first responders in the 1984 disaster, including the senior doctors in the emergency ward and persons involved in mass burials, narrated their experiences during the event.
Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, a poster exhibition covering every aspect of the disaster will be held till December 4 to mark the 40th anniversary of the tragedy.
An anniversary rally will be organised, with focus on global corporate crimes such as industrial pollution and climate change, she said.
