Kangana Ranaut lauds Jallikattu as India’s official entry at Oscars 2021, says ‘movie mafia gang is hiding in their houses’

Kangana Ranaut applauded the decision to send Malayalam film Jallikattu as India’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 93rd Academy Awards. She called it the result of the scrutiny that the Bollywood ‘mafia’ is being subjected to and suggested that they were unable to tilt the scales in their favour through lobbying.

“All the scrutiny/ bashing Bullydawood gang got is finally yielding some results, Indian films aren’t just about 4 film families, movie mafia gang is hiding in their houses and letting juries do their job and congratulations team #Jallikattu,” the three-time National Award winner wrote on Twitter.

 

In September, Kangana came out in support of the regional film industries and called the perception of the Hindi film industry being India’s most superior film industry ‘wrong’. “Best of dubbed regional films don’t get pan India relase but dubbed Hollywood films get mainstream relase it’s alarming. Reason is the atrocious quality of most Hindi films and their monopoly over theatre screens also media created aspirational imagine for Hollywood films,” she wrote.

Jallikattu, directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery, is based on a short story written by Hareesh titled Maoist. The film, which stars Antony Varghese, Chemban Vinod Jose, Sabumon Abdusamad and Santhy Balachandran, was chosen from 27 entries across different languages.

Pellissery, who has previously made critically-acclaimed films like Angamaly Diaries and Ea Ma Yau, told PTI, “Extremely happy to know that Jallikattu gained entry in the Oscar. This is a moment of happiness for all those who ‘raced’ for the film.”

Also read: Swara Bhasker reacts to outrage over A Suitable Boy kiss, says ‘no right to be offended’ if unaffected by Kathua rape inside a temple

Filmmaker Rahul Rawail, Chairman, Jury Board, The Film Federation of India (FFI), told reporters in a virtual press meet that Jallikattu ‘really brings out the raw problems which are there in human beings’. He added, “The film has been depicted wonderfully and it has been shot very well. The emotion that comes out really moved all of us to have it selected.”

Last year, Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy, starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, was India’s entry to the Oscars. Kangana has been vocal in her criticism of the film, which she has termed ‘mediocre’.

Follow @htshowbiz for more