Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Malayalam film Jallikattu is India’s official submission to the Best International Feature Film language category at the 93rd Academy Awards this year. The film was selected by a 14-member committee of the Film Federation of India — the trade body that picks the Indian nominee every year. The film, which was unanimously chosen from 27 entries across Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Odiya and other languages, is the third Malayalam movie that has been selected as an entry to the Academy Awards. Rajiv Anchal’s Guru in 1997 and Salil Ahamed’s Adaminte Makan Abu in 2011 were the previous entries for the Academy Awards.
Jallikattu, which stars Antony Varghese, Chemban Vinod Jose, Sabumon Abdusamad and Santhy Balachandran, is about a buffalo that breaks free from a slaughterhouse and a village’s attempt to capture it. The film had its premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and received critical acclaim.
Based on S Hareesh’s short story Maoist, the film’s screenplay was penned by Hareesh alongside R Jayakumar. In a press conference, Film Federation of India committee chairperson Rahul Rawail said, “It brings out the raw problems that are there in human beings.”
Last year, the committee picked Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy for the 2020 Oscars. Amit Masurkar’s Newton, Vetri Maaran’s Visaarani and Rima Das’ Village Rockstars were India’s previous Oscar entries. India, however, has never won an award under the Best Foreign Film category and only three movies have been selected for the nomination list — Mother India, Salaam Bombay and Lagaan.
