The political satire "Newton" which is directed by Amit Masukar, depicting election in remote jungles of India, is giving a new hope to the country's long dry spell of films at Oscar.
The recently released black comedy starring Rajkummar Rao has been chosen as the official entry to represent India in the "Best Foreign Language " category of Oscar Awards Next Year. The second directorial movie, released worldwide on Friday, Sept. 22, has Pankaj Kumar in the second lead role.
The plot revolves around an idealistic official Nutan Kumar (Rajkummar Rao ), who has completed his Masters in Physics and aptly calls himself "Newton" joins the government job. Though a "reserve", he is named the presiding officer of a booth situated deep in jungles of Chhattisgarh where voters reside, along with the omipresent Maoist groups.
The rest of the story depicts how Newton deals with security and administration to conduct election despite the constant threat from the Maoist group in the area. The Indian drama also features Raghubir Yadav, Sanjay Mishra and Mukesh Prajapati in supporting roles.
"It is a really honest film and we are already getting an overwhelming response, we will put all our energies to take the film forward," Rajkummar told the news agency PTI. Manish Mundra, the producer of the movie, was equally elated about the news of the film entering the Oscar as their hard work is finally yielding results.
The Newton Movie is produced by Drishyam Films and distributed by Eros Entertainment. It was premiered in Berlin Film Festival, from where it was chosen by one of the jury members appointed by the Film Federation of India for the Oscars too.
Indian films like Mother India (1958), Salaam Bombay (1989) and Lagaan (2001) are among the movies to have made it to top five in the Foreign Film Category at the Oscars so far. The entries in the last 10 years include Eklavya: The Royal Guard (2007), Taare Zameen Par (2008), Harishchandra's Factory (2009), Peepli Live (2010), Abu, Son of Adam (2011), Barfi! (2012), The Good Road (2013), Liar's Dice (2014), Court (2015), and Interrogation (2016).
Apart from "Lagaan", directed by Aausthosh Gowriker, "Newton" is the second movie to get selected for the Oscar after a gap of 11 years. Whether it ends up receiving applaud from the jury members like "Lagaan" or makes it to the top honours remains the major question before Bollywood until the March 4, 2018 Oscar Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles unfolds.
