Founded in 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion pictures.
This year's Academy Awards once again celebrate the best films and filmmakers from around the world. Every year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hands out the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the U.S. with a predominantly non-English dialogue track. Though the award is accepted by the winning film's director, it is not presented to a specific individual. It is considered an award for the submitting country as a whole.
Honorary awards were given to foreign films as early as 1947; however, the Best Foreign Language Film award wasn't officially created until 1956.
While India did not receive a nomination for the Marathi film Court, India will be represented through superstar Priyanka Chopra who will be one of the presenters.
Over the past 60 years, India has officially submitted 48 Indian films - some in multiple languages - to the Academy; however, only 3 (Mother India, Salaam Bombay! and Lagaan) received a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and none received an Oscar. (The films Gandhi (1982) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008) both won Oscars for Best Picture; however, though filmed in and about India, neither were wholly produced by Indian studios.)
India submitted its first film for the award in 1957, Mother India, which lost to the Italian film Nights of Cabiria by one vote.
Salaam Bombay!, which received the next Oscar nomination in 1988, lost to the Danish film Pelle the Conqueror.
In 2001, Lagaan received the third nomination for India; however, it lost out to the Bosnia & Herzegovina film No Man's Land.
South Indian superstar Kamal Haasan most often represents the country with seven films submitted - Saagar, Swati Mutyam, Nayakan, Thevar Magan, Kuruthipunal, Indian, and Hey Ram! The films were in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu and included three consecutive films between 1985 and 1987, one of which he directed himself. Yet none of these films received a nomination.
Aamir Khan's films Earth, Lagaan, Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par and Peepli Live (which he produced) were submitted to the Academy. Only Lagaan received an Oscar nomination.
Shah Rukh Khan appeared in Academy-submitted Hey Ram!, Devdas, and Paheli. None of these films received an Oscar nomination.
Best Foreign Language Film nominations are limited to five films each year so competition is tough. It is interesting to note, however, that over the lifetime of the award, 46 of the 60 awards have gone to European countries.
Italy won 11 Best Foreign Language Film awards with director Federico Fellini winning 4 Oscars for La strada, Nights of Cabiria, 8½ and Amarcord.
France won 8 Oscars. Sweden only won 4 Oscars, but they were all won by legendary filmmaker Ingmar Bergman for The Virgin Spring, Through a Glass Darkly, Sundays and Cybele and Fanny and Alexander.
It will be interesting to see if India can crack the Academy code to get nominated and win an Oscar. As the Indian film industry continues to mature and expand further into the world marketplace, we hope to see improved access to all Indian films (regardless of language) across the globe. And we look forward to celebrating the Indian film that finally receives an Oscar.
Until then, take a look at the variety of films submitted for Academy Awards by India so far.
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