Eklavya, the Hindi feature film depicting a violent family saga starring Amitabh Bachchan, has been nominated as India’s official entry for Oscar award in the best foreign movie category.

This is the third time that a film by Vidhu Vinod Chopra is going to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His short non-fiction film An Encounter with Faces was one of the first Indian films to be nominated for an Oscar in 1980. In 1989, Parinda was sent to the Oscars as India’s official entry.

Pahlaj Nihalani, President of Association of Motion Pictures and TV Programmes which selects the entry, said: “Yes, it is true that Eklavya has been selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars.”

But Nihalani was peeved with the jury for selecting a film “rejected by masses”.

“It is disgraceful that the jury has selected a movie for the Oscars which has been rejected by the people. I don’t see any logic behind selecting this movie when there were other deserving movies like Chak De India,” he said.

“If this is the taste of the jury, then it is better they leave the industry. Eklavya doesn’t deserve an Oscar entry.
This is a clear case of partiality. The selection has been done under the influence of certain people, which is shameful,” he said.