Lijo Jose Pellissery's Jallikkattu is India's official entry to the Oscars

Lijo Jose Pellissery's critically acclaimed Jallikkattu (2019), which won him his second successive Best Director award at the International Film Festival of India last year, has been selected as India's official entry to the 93rd Academy Awards.

The announcement was made by director Rahul Rawail, who chairs the Film Federation of India (FFI), at a virtual press conference today.

Pellissery had won the Best Director award at IFFI for Ee Ma Yau (2018) as well.

Throwing light on the selection process, Rawail said, "There were 27 films and the one that has been nominated to represent India is the Malayalam film Jallikkattu. The film talks about an animal who has run amok, but it also speaks about the human condition. The quality of production is something we should all be very proud of. The emotions which come out really moved all of us."

He added, "We felt this is a very unique film, and the nature of the human condition depicted in this film coupled with the technical and human aspects made it a worthy choice."

A jury of 14 members evaluated the films over four weeks before arriving at the decision. Rawail thanked the jury, saying, "Nobody had a hidden agenda, but the only objective was to pick the best film to represent India at the Oscars (sic)."

There were 26 films on the jury's shortlist. However, there were no entries from the Bengali film industry this year. According to several reports, Chaitanya Tamhane's The Disciple (2020), Geethu Mohandas's Moothon (2020), Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Shikara (2020), Rohena Gera's Sir (2020) and Nila Madhab Panda's Kalira Atita were among the films in the running.

The Disciple has been picked up by Academy award-winner Alfonso Cuarón, who has been promoting it at several international festivals. 

Jallikkattu tells the story of a buffalo that escapes the slaughterhouse on the day it is supposed to be killed and runs amok.

The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony is slated to take place in Los Angeles on 25 April 2021.