Federation of Western India Cine Employees fondly called FWICE is the Mother Body of 31 crafts functioning in the Film/ TV/ Web/ Ads Industry.
We at FWICE have observed that this year’s nomination of the film ‘Chhello Show’ as India’s Official Entry to the 95th Oscar Award is not as per the usual norms and has therefore created lot of doubts and issues we thought of raising. We strongly feel that the selection process was not thoroughly followed. We have nothing against the producers and makers of the film which has been nominated but at the same time the real successors of this award cannot be left in dilemma.
Official selection of an Indian film means produced by Indian companies. This year’s selection of Chhello Show seems questionable. This film is primarily produced by foreign studios and most of the crew is also from foreign countries. Its major producers Orange Studios are foreign studio. There are some very serious allegations against the film that it’s inspired/copied from Oscar winner Cinema Paradiso. And prima facie, if we look at the poster and synopsis there are uncanny similarities between both. This is a very serious allegation because in the past (Gully Boys) India was humiliated when Oscar committee rejected that film as plagiarized from 8MM. Are we making the same mistake again because Oscar is very strict about the originality and even slightest of similarities disqualify a film. This is important for Indian Cinema’s honor, prestige and integrity.
The film was premiered on June 2021. How is it qualified for 2022 films? What are the FFI’s rules? If this is the case then it’s not an equal opportunity competition and would be an injustice to the other successors of real Indian Films who are the real claimants of the Oscar selections. The chairman of the jury T S Nagabharana has given an official statement in Bombay Times that this film was also considered last year. How is it possible for a film to enter twice? What is criterion for qualification? If it was even considered last year, why is it getting a second chance? This technicality has to be made clear and FFI must explain why this concession is given?
We therefore are making an appeal to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to take serious note of this issue. We suggest that as this decision of nominating a film for Oscar constitutes the dignity of the Film Industry, the Ministry should take over the entire process of nominating the film and should not allow an organization to do so.
