Soon after the high of securing a nomination at the prestigious BAFTA awards, disillusionment came the way of Aamir Khan starrer ‘Rang De Basanti’, India’s official entry to the Oscars , when the film failed to make it to the list of nine movies shortlisted by the Oscars Academy in the foreign film category. However, Indians even then have something to cheer about as Canada’s official entry ‘Water’, directed by India-born Deepa Mehta and starring Bollywood heartthrob John Abraham and model Lisa Ray, has made it to the shortlist of nine films.

Directed by Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra, the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Rang De Basanti has performances by Aamir Khan, Atul Kulkarni and Soha Ali Khan among others. Rang De Basanti has touched and still continues to touch the hearts and minds of viewers throughout the world. The movie has impacted on the youth of India and elsewhere. Rang De Basanti was nominated in the ‘Film Not In The English Language’ category at the BAFTA, in accordance with the nominations’ list proclaimed on Friday evening. The awards will be held on February 11 at the Royal Opera House in London, two weeks before the Oscars awards.

Hardly ever have Indian films made it to the final round of the Oscars, let alone win the award, although Indian director Satyajit Ray, well-known for his art-house films, was bestowed the Lifetime Achievement award in 1992.

The nine shortlisted films, the list of which was released by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts, are: Rachid Bouchareb’s ‘Days of Glory’ (Algeria), Deepa Mehta’s ‘Water’ (nominated by Canada as its entry), Sussane Bier’s ‘After the Wedding’ (Denmark), Daniele Thompson’s ‘Avenue Montaigne’ (France), Florian Henckel’s ‘The Lives of Others’ (Germany), Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (Mexico), Paul Verhoeven’s ‘Black Book’ (The Netherlands), Pedro Almodovar’s ‘Volver’ (Spain) and Fredi M. Murer’s ‘Vitus’ (Switzerland).

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