Taare Zameen Par is India's entry to Oscars - Bharat-Voice: Voice for the new India

yogi · #1 (**permalink**) 20-09-2008, 11:26 AM

Really good selection. Though I thought that "A Wednesday" was inspiring and "shocking" as well. But the innocence of Taare Zameen Par is just heart melting. I think this movie has a great change of winning this time. Here's the Hindustan Times article:

Quote:

Actor Aamir Khan's debut directorial venture 'Taare Zameen Par', a sensitive story of an eight-year-old dyslexia child, was selected as India's entry to the foreign language category for Oscars at the 81st annual Academy awards.

This was announced by filmmaker Suneel Darshan, who headed the Film Federation of India (FFI) jury to select the film in Mumbai on Saturday.

'Taare Zameen Par' written by Amole Gupte was released in 2007 and has received critical and Box Office acclaim. Aamir had said that the film did business of Rs 131 crore at the Box Office world-wide.

Other films in fray for selection were critically acclaimed Marathi films 'Valu' and 'Tingya', Nishikant Kamat's 'Mumbai Meri Jaan', Neeraj Pandey's 'A Wednesday', Ashutosh Gowarikar's 'Jodhaa Akbar', Farhan Akhtar's 'Rock On!', Subhash Ghai's 'Black and White' and Telugu film 'Ghanyam'.

This will be Aamir Khan's second outing at the Oscars. His first home production 'Lagaan' made history in 2001 when it reached the final nomination list of the foreign film category.

The awards ceremony will be held on February 22, 2009.

dhruv · #2 (**permalink**) 20-09-2008, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yogi

But the innocence of Taare Zameen Par is just heart melting.

The starting scene of TZP was soo beautiful... one in which the child is watching water in the gutter. Reminded me of my childhood

yogi · #3 (**permalink**) 01-11-2008, 04:04 PM

A documentary on a Lucknow girl nominated for Oscars!

Quote:

LUCKNOW: ‘Smile Pinky’ - a documentary short-listed by the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences - may or may not prove lucky at the 81st
Oscar award ceremony, but the nomination has already turned Pinky Sonkar, its protagonist, a celebrity in the small hamlet of Rampur Dahaba in Mirzapur interiors.

The shy little waif, whose cleft lip correction surgery could well make cinematic history on February 22, may never get to watch the 39-minute touching saga spanning her six-year long journey from ostracism to Oscars. Or, the accolades the film is beginning to receive at several international screenings.

What makes Pinky delirious with joy is that the short film "on surface about surgery, yet really not at all a medical story" - as its Emmy nominee director Magan Mylan prefers to call it - guarantees her a new life free from fear and ridicule. With a surprise bonus of decent meals, new school uniform, bag, shoes and the ultimate - VIP concern.

Last week, Pinky earned one gunny bagful of rice and Rs 1,500, her first wages. The gift hamper was delivered at their shanty by none other than the tehsildar saheb himself, says her father Rajendra. Talking to TOI, this landless farm hand, obviously overwhelmed by the great honour, recounted how the official came a calling, "crossed the threshold, sought him out and inquired after Pinky".

The gesture apparently followed a news in a local daily that Pinky, suffering from malnutrition and malaria, had no reason to smile. Blissfully unaware of the intent, the Sonkars take the courtesy call as the natural byproduct of their daughter’s new found star status.

"I am privileged to have fathered such a precocious child," Rajendra says in Bhojpuri. Their family ‘izzat’ has risen up by several notches all thanks to her."... Only because of Pinky, we even had ‘angrez’ visiting our house - first ever such incident here," the man said excitedly. He describes the two-day shoot by Mylan and her team - the first day to trace her journey from the village to a surgery camp in Varanasi and the second time five months later, when a "reconstructed" Pinky frolicked with her pals during the school recess.