Bengali Film In Oscar Race For The First Time

India’s official entry, Newton didn’t feature in the list for the Oscar, yet India still has a chance, thanks to the Bengali film ‘ Roktokorobi’ that has been longlisted for the general category of the Academy Award (Best Picture). The film is inspired by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s drama of the same name. It has been selected along with 340 others, of which nine will be shortlisted for the Best Picture Oscar. The film’s director Amitabha Bhattacharya said that Roktokorobi is the first Bengali film to make it to the Academy Awards general category long list. Although the film is pitted against movies like Call Me By Your Name, Missouri, Lady Bird, The Post and Dunkirk, the director and his team is hoping for the best as the movie received positive reviews from jury members of the Academy. The movie was appreciated for its script, music, background score and excellent work of the actors. Roktokorobi was released in Indian theatres on July 28, and features Bengali actors Kaushik Sen, Shantilal Mukherjee, Rahul and Mumtaz Sorcar, among others. Bhattacharya added that the movie now has the chance of getting selected in other sub-categories such as Best Music, Best Cinematography, Best Actor, Best Actress and so on. Final nominations will be announced on January 23, and the ceremony will be held on March 4.