RRR Oscar snub: How film federation’s selection robbed India of winning big at 2022 Oscars

One can endlessly debate if Pan Nalin’s _Chhello Show_ is a better film than Rajamouli’s _RRR_ because, well, art is subjective. But when it comes to Oscars , the buzz around a film plays an important role in deciding whether it will win the award - which, as per Variety’s ranking, was very likely in case of RRR. The film got praises from a large section of the global audience post its Netflix premiere. Everyone - from Indians back home to the critics - mostly white men on Twitter with blue ticks, seemed to love it. Doctor Strange screenwriter C. Robert Cargill called the film ‘Craziest, weirdest blockbuster’ while Larry Karaszewski, a Golden Globe award winner for Best Screenplay, said in context to the film, “Those who say cinema is dead aren’t looking in the right places.” RRR had already managed to get foreign audiences and critics to talk about it which is no mean feat. The battle was half won and the film had already been noticed - in fact, appreciated by international audiences. Why, then, the Film Federation of India chose to go ahead and select a film, which might be a cinematic masterpiece in its own right, but definitely wasn’t as talked about and discussed as RRR, is a mystery. Some Twitterati went as far as calling Chhello Show the jury’s ‘personal entry’ to Oscars because it didn’t seem to resonate with cinemagoers. It was particularly shocking because publications like Variety (which often gets its Oscar predictions right) and reputed American filmmakers were rooting for it. Some even speculated that RRR could break India’s dry spell at the Academy Awards and win multiple Oscars. The snub therefore is a bitter pill to swallow. Is FFI not aware about how tiresome and grueling the Oscar race is? It requires campaigning similar to Elections, mailing screeners to voting members, soliciting screenings, sending marketing invites, making public appearances and most importantly - money which one can only get if the film is backed by a studio that can invest millions into the campaign. Why, then, was RRR, which is backed by DVV Entertainment, not chosen in place of Chhello Show which had a modest budget_?_ With the advent of social media, winning an Oscar is an uphill battle. The voting members might just accidentally discover RRR but considering the sheer volume of submissions, it is unlikely that they will watch the three-hour-long visual spectacle. Nomination in the Best International Feature Film, therefore, is the best way to get the Oscar jury to notice a film because they will surely have to watch all the nominated films to come to a decision. If the film is good enough, it might just win an award in the main categories like Best Picture or Best Director, much like Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite. Oscar snub for Rajamouli and co. honestly seems like a missed opportunity. Would RRR have won big had it scored the nomination? No one can say for sure. But with industry honchos and directors predicting multiple Oscars for Rajamouli’s magnum opus, it would have surely bagged at least one which would have surely put Indian cinema on the world map like never before. In a statement to Indian Express, FFI President TP Aggarwal clarified that Chhello Show was unanimously chosen by all 17 jury members. There is no mention or clarity about who were the 17 jury members and how they were chosen in the first place. Ideally, the list of the names of jury members who choose films for the Oscar entries should be available in public domain for the sake of transparency. Since that is not the case, the selection has come under even more scrutiny on social media. The distributor of the Rajamouli film however, has submitted RRR for Oscars. As reported by Variety journalist Clayton Davis, the film is not yet available on the Academy Streaming Room, which is part of a strategy to get as many voters to see it on the big screen in order to highlight its epic scale and breathtaking visuals. Rest assured, the marketing team and the studio would now have to work twice as hard to get the voting members to notice the film. In many ways, RRR Oscar snub is a reminder of the many times Indian jury has faltered in accurately selecting the film that deserves the nomination. _The Lunchbox (_2013) and The Disciple (2020) are some of the jury’s many missteps in recent past that have not gone down well with the cinephiles. The last Indian movie that made it to the final five in the best international feature category was Aamir Khan-starrer Lagaan in 2001. The other two Indian movies to have made it to the top five are Mother India (1958) and Salaam Bombay (1989). Can RRR still score a nomination and subsequently a win? One can’t be too sure of that. But FFI’s call has surely struck a raw nerve of many Indians. Deepansh Duggal is an entertainment, pop-culture and trends writer based in New Delhi. He specializes in op-eds based on the socio-political and gender issues in the world of entertainment and showbiz. He also writes explainers and occasionally reviews shows in the OTT space. He tweets at @Deepansh75.  Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.