Zoya Akhtar breaks silence on 'Gully Boy' dropping out of Oscars

Gully Boy director Zoya Akhtar finally breaks her silence on the film being dropped out of the Oscar 2020 race. The filmmaker in an interaction with a leading daily said that it was disappointing when she heard the news. She further revealed that one has to rely on the publicists for guidance as the system keeps evolving.

"'Oh s***t, it didn't make it!' It was disappointing, but what can one do? You move on to your next film. We went through the entire process. But one doesn't know how the system works there. The people there are not fully aware either as the system keeps evolving. You have to rely on the publicists to guide you. Gully Boy has been seen by 10,000 American critics. It has opened new doors not only for me but also for the industry," Zoya told Mid-Day.

Meanwhile, Farhan Akhtar during a conversation with an entertainment portal said, "We are disappointed that Gully Boy didn't make it to the short list but grateful that we had the opportunity to compete. Best of luck to the films that have made it through."

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The films that have made the cut are: South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's much touted class satire "Parasite", "Pain and Glory" from Spain, "The Painted Bird" from Czech Republic, Estonia's "Truth and Justice", "Les Miserables" from France, "Those Who Remained" from Hungary, North Macedonia's "Honeyland", "Corpus Christi" from Poland, "Beanpole" from Russia and "Atlantica" from Senegal.

ABOUT THE FILM

The movie, which released commercially across the country on February 14, features Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Vijay Raaz, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Vijay Varma and Amruta Subhash. "Gully Boy", produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, features Ranveer as an up-and-coming rapper who sets out to achieve his dream by rhyming about his life on the Mumbai streets.

The last Indian film that made it to the final five was Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan in 2001. Mother India (1958) and Salaam Bombay (1989) are the other two Indian movies to have made it to the top five.Ninety-one films were eligible in the category.

Gully Boy out; Honeyland, Beanpole make it to the shortlist of Oscar 2020

(WITH PTI INPUTS)