The Oscars are just around the corner. The much awaited award ceremony will take place on 26th April. And as usual, our submission for the Academy award for Best International Feature Film did not get nominated. Since 1957 only 3 films have made it to the nominations (Mother India, Salaam Bombay, Lagaan). Until 2020 this award was called the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and we have never won it.

So what is it that makes India an extremely weak candidate for the selection of this prestigious award?

The problem might be hidden in the poor choice of movies we send. 

Take Gully Boy, our 2019 submission to the Academy. It was a wrong choice for many reasons:

First, it was not an original. This means it was immediately disqualified on the grounds of plagiarism. The idea of Gully Boy was heavily inspired by Eminem’s 8 Mile. Same issue was with Barfi!, our 2012 submission. The movie had scenes copied from the cult classic The Notebook.

Second, the direction and the writing of the movie was not at par with international standards. Keeping this in mind, Andhadhun would have been a better submission, but that too would have been classified as plagiarism, since it was inspired from a French play.

Now, coming to Bollywood’s big misconception: movies that show the struggles of poor India will be well received by the West. 

The Indian selection jury is stuck on subjects that are inherently “desi” like the 2015 submission, Court.  Another submission, The Good Road was selected because the Indian committee believed that it showed an unknown India while the crowd favourite, The Lunchbox, was rejected. The Luchbox had a heart wrenching story with amazing actors but in a way, was a commercial film. The selection jury must have felt this would not garner sympathy from the West.

By the staggering number of failed nominations, we certainly know that trying to get a nomination based on guilt trip is a bad strategy.

The truth is that the Academy is more concerned with skilled direction and a crisp storyline than the sympathy factor. 

The Academy guidelines clearly state that a film's nationality matters much less than its language. The Academy appreciates ‘what’ is being shown rather than ‘where’ it is shown.

Showing different sides of your country and common struggles can get you not only a nomination but also a win. But this is only when it is done in the right balance. Parasite,Roma and A Separation are examples of that. The 2018 Lebanese drama film Capernaum did not win but received well-deserved global recognition. The film was shot on the streets of Lebanon with untrained actors in main roles.

There is also difficulty producing movies on controversial but strong topics in India. Water is a Hindi language film directed by Deepa Mehta in 2005. The film, which was set to be shot in Varanasi, attracted hostility from conservative right-wing organizations and was subsequently shot in Sri Lanka. In 2007, it was sent in as an entry by Canada and received the Best Foreign Language Film nomination. Events like this show that the Indian system is against creation of good films and topics that can win are not made due to fear of controversy.

Also, the musical nature of Bollywood films does not translate well with the Academy. This is one of the reasons why Lagaan unnerved the jury even when it had a beautiful storyline. The 2002 submission, Devdas was an amazing choice but perhaps wasn’t nominated for the same reason. 

So what does a film need to get an Oscar nomination? 

Denmark seems to have figured it out. Throughout the years it has given submissions in varying genres and has almost always made the cut. Let’s analyse three of their movies to understand this.

After The Wedding is a Danish drama released in 2006. It has interesting characters, a moral dilemma and a mystery that unfolds slowly throughout the movie. The premise does sound like a typical ‘what happened before’ drama but it made it to the top of the list only losing to one movie. 

The Hunt is the story of a man who becomes the target of mass hysteria after being wrongly accused of sexually abusing a child in his kindergarten class. Does this sound Danish? No, there is no such thing as a Danish movie. What they made was a movie on a never before thought premise. It reached the final nomination stage.

And their latest submission…hold on to your hats for this one people. 

Another Round is a 2020 comedy-drama film. It is a story about a binge drinking experiment by 4 high school teachers. A plot with this premise would immediately get rejected by our own critics. But Denmark went ahead with it. They knew  great direction, interesting characters and talented actors could win hearts easily.

The movie got nominated and is one of the strongest contenders for this year's Academy award for Best International Feature Film. 

So what is Denmark’s secret formula?                                                                                                                             Take Risks! And it will most certainly pay off.

Also, all the films mentioned here star Danish sweetheart Mads Mikkelson. On a lighter note, that might be one of the reasons why all of his films get nominated by their country’s jury.

It is true that the Academy favors European films. But the sheer number of nominations and wins received by non-European countries tells us this trend is evolving. India produces amazing films and has the largest cinema watching audience in the world. Indian films have big budgets, world class cinematography, fantastic acting and storylines. We simply do not know how to pick the right movies to send. It is not as if India cannot win an Oscar nod. It is our process that needs to improve. Change will come only if we understand what we are doing wrong and how we can fix it.