Los Angeles: "Newton", India's official
entry in the Best Foreign Language category at the 90th
Academy Awards, is out of the Oscars race.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAAS)
has announced that the Amit Masurkar-directed black comedy is
not a part of the nine-film line-up which have advanced to the
next round of voting.
The nine films are - "A Fantastic Woman" (Chile), "In the
Fade" (Germany), "On Body and Soul" (Hungary), "Foxtrot"
(Israel), "The Insult" (Lebanon), "Loveless" (Russia),
Felicite (Senegal), "The Wound" (South Africa) and "The
Square" (Sweden).
Featuring Rajkummar Rao and Pankaj Tripathi in key roles,
the Hindi language film chronicles the foibles of democracy in
the jungles of Chhattisgarh.
Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced
on January 23.
No Indian film has ever won an Oscar. The last Indian
film that made it to the final five in the Best Foreign Film
category list was Ashutosh Gowariker's "Lagaan" in 2001.
"Mother India" (1958) and "Salaam Bombay" (1989) are the
other two Indian movies to have made it to the top five.
Tamil film "Visaranai" by director Vetrimaaran was
India's official submission to the Oscars last year.
The ceremony will be held on March 4 in Los Angeles.
PTI
