India produces the most number of movies in the world. On an annual basis, the country produces about 1500 to 2000 movies across various languages. The nation is filled with movie lovers who stop at nothing to relish a good movie; some of them might have even won an Oscar!
Right since its first movie, Raja Harishchandra in 1913, over the years, India boasts of many quality movies that won hearts and accolades all over the world. In fact, the country has even been submitting films for the Academy Award for the Best Foreign film since 1957, with the latest entrant being Bollywood’s Newton. So, today we take a look at the films from India in the last decade, that competed for the world’s most prestigious award- The Oscar Award.
2016- Visaranai
Visaranai is a 2015 Tamil crime-drama directed by Vetrimaaran. The movie was based on the novel ‘Lock Up’ by M.Chandrasekhar. The movie showcases police brutality, corruption, and how tough life can get when you are down. Produced by Dhanush’s Wunderbar films, the movie won several awards at the local and the national level.
2015- Court
The Marathi court-room drama was India’s official submission for an Oscar award in 2015. Directed by Chaitanya Tamhane, Court’s plot revolves around a case which charges a social activist in a suicide case. The movie was hailed for its thought-provoking storyline and raised several questions about the world we live in.
2014- Liar’s Dice
Liar’s Dice is a Bollywood movie starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Geetanjali Thapa. The Geetu Mohandas directorial is a road drama movie that showed the difficulties in the lives of rural labourers who migrate to cities in the search of work. It won a number awards at several International and National film festivals.
2013- The Good Road
The Gujarati film, directed by Gyan Arora, is a drama that tells the stories of different people living on a highway. It was the first Gujarati film to be submitted to the Oscars.
2012- Barfi!
The Ranbir Kapoor starrer, which was directed by Anurag Basu, was India’s official entry to the Oscars in 2012. The movie has a heart-touching storyline that showcased the love-story of a specially-abled pair. It remains as one of Ranbir’s and Priyanka’s best performances till date.
2011- Abu, son of Adam
The Malayalam drama tells us the story of a poor perfume seller whose only remaining wish in life is to visit the Hajj. The plot shows us how far the protagonist goes to fulfill this wish of his. This movie cast Salim Kumar as the lead and was directed by Salim Ahamed.
2010- Peepli Live
Produced by Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao, Peepli Live is a satirical comedy that deals with farmer’s suicides and the media’s response to them. The movie was directed by Anusha Rizvi and starred Omkar Das Manikpuri and Raghubir Das among others.
2009- Harishchandra’s factor
The 2009 Marathi film shows us the hardships endured by Dadasaheb Phalke in making India’s first movie, Rajaharishchandra in 1913. Written and directed by Paresh Mokashi, Harischandra’s factory remains as one of the best movies made in the language of Marathi.
2008- Taare Zameen Par
Probably the most popular movie on the list, Taare Zameen Par won hearts and awards alike. The Aamir Khan directorial has a heart-touching plot that tells us the story of a child suffering from dyslexia.
2007- Ekalavya: The Royal Guard
Directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the 2007 film was one of the costliest films of its time. Having a large star cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, and Vidya Balan among others, the Bollywood drama is the story of a guard who has the responsibility of safeguarding the members of a royal family.
However, it is disheartening to know that none of the above films made it to the final list of nominations for the best foreign film category. The last time that happened was back in 2001 when Aamir Khan’s Lagaan made it to the final nominations’ list for an oscar. We have to wait and see if Newton does make the cut this time around and manage to break the jynx.
Also, read:
Discussion about this post