Nine films will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 84th Academy Awards or Oscars to you and I. Sixty-three films had originally qualified in the category, including India’s entry Adaminte Makan Abu, the Malayalam film directed by Salim Ahmed. Sadly, not having the nous of an Aamir Khan, Ahmed was unable to parlay the selection into a place in the shortlist, let alone a nomination in the final five. Thus, Lagaan, Salaam Bombay and Mother India remain the only Indian films to receive Oscar nominations.
Cineswami was invited to an exclusive preview of UTV Motion Pictures’ upcoming 2012 slate of films and is pleased to report that bar some, they are all worth looking forward to. Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor’s Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu seems a safe Valentine’s Day bet; Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana looks to be an edgy comedy as befits a film from Anurag Kashyap’s stable with the added bonus of a clean shaven (and dentally fixed) Kunal Kapoor; Prabhu Deva’s Vikramarkudu remake Rowdy Rathore seems like a worthy addition to the Wanted/Singham genre in spite of Akshay Kumar; and the most pleasant surprise of all being Anurag Basu’s Barfi that despite having a storyline that reads like a bad Bhansali film gone horribly wrong is in reality a slapstick, sweet Chaplinesque or Raj Kapoorish piece of whimsy replete with pratfalls and the like.
We’ll reserve judgement on Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine featuring a newly flabby Kareena Kapoor because no matter how much effort she puts in, it’s by-the-numbers Bhandarkar behind the camera. The footage that elicited a very public
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