'Court' out of Oscar race, other Indian regional films still in

Filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane's debut Marathi film "Court" is out of the Best Foreign-Language Film category of the upcoming 88th Academy Awards. However, other Indian regional films like "Jalam", "RangiTaranga" and "Nachom-ia Kumpasar" are still vying for a spot in the nominations for the upcoming gala.

"Court" - a courtroom drama that brings alive injustices of India's legal system - lost its battle to films like "The Brand New Testament" (Belgium), "Embrace of the Serpent" (Colombia), "A War" (Denmark), "The Fencer" (Finland), "Mustang" (France), "Labyrinth of Lies" (Germany) "Son of Saul" (Hungary), "Viva" (Ireland) and "Theeb" (Jordan).

Featuring actors like Vivek Gomber, Vira Sathidar, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Pradeep Joshi, Usha Bane and Shirish Pawar, "Court" was selected by a 17-member jury at the Film Federation of India (FFI), headed by veteran actor-filmmaker Amol Palekar.

Though India is out from the Best Foreign-Language Film category, some movies are still competing in various other categories for the golden statuette.

Compositions from Malayalam movie "Jalam" and Indo-Australian film "Salt Bridge" are among the 74 songs contending for nominations in the Best Original Song category of the awards gala.

"Bhoomiyilenghanumundo", "Koodu vaykkan", "Pakalppaathi chaari" and "Yaathra manoradhamerum" are songs from "Jalam" that are fighting for a spot in the category.

Starring Priyanka Nair and Prakash Bare, "Jalam" is directed by M. Padmakumar.

Also, seven songs from "Salt Bridge", which stars Rajeev Khandelwal and Usha Jadhav, have made it to the long list.

The songs are: "Aankhon me samaye dil", "Bachpana thaa", "Kanpne lage tum", "Kyaa bataaun tujhe", "Le jaaye jo door tumse", "Na jaane kitni door" and "Sookha hi rang daalo".

Konkani film "Nachom-ia Kumpasar", Malayalam film "Jalam" and "Salt Bridge" are also amongst 112 films that contending for a spot in the Best Original Score category.

Two Kannada films "Rangitaranga" and "Care of Footpath 2", which stars television actress Avika Gor along with actors Esha Deol, Deepp Pathak, Jaya Karthik Kishan S and S. Dingri Naresh, are among the 305 movies that made it to the list of eligible movies for the 88th Academy Awards.

"Nachom-ia Kumpasar" is also up against these films.

The final nominations will be announced on January 14, 2016 and the ceremony is set to be held on February 28 at Dolby Theatre here.