The row over ‘Eklavya – The Royal Guard’s nomination to the Oscars from India ended with the Film Federation of India (FFI) has deciding to retain Hindi movie as the official entry to Oscars in the Foreign Language category. The decision came soon before the time closed for announcing the nominations on Wednesday. 

Although this is the third time a Chopra film has been chosen for the Oscars, Eklavya, featuring Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, has flopped at the box office and received bad reviews.

Earlier, when the Indian jury nominated Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ‘Eklavya: The Royal Guard’ as the country’s entry for best foreign film at the Oscars, it raised a lot of hue and cry. The thriller was selected from among five films, including Dharm (Religion) directed by Bhavna Talwar, a first time director who moved the Bombay High Court complaining that the jury making India's choice had close links with Chopra, in contravention of the jury's guidelines.

The controversy had led the Oscar authorities to ask India to reconfirm its choice by Wednesday. The FFI was given the option by the Academy to either reaffirm its original choice of 'Eklavya' or send in a new entry.

Indian jury chairman Vinod Pande has acknowledged to the BBC that there were irregularities in the selection process. The Oscar academy's guidelines and the guidelines of the Film Federation of India which selects the jury, any member of the jury who may have had some association with any film that has been entered should withdraw from the jury. Mr Pande said that one of the jury had now admitted a connection to ‘Eklavya’.

‘Meanwhile, Bhavna Talwar was reluctant to comment on the issue and when asked if she would take any further action if ‘Eklavya’ remained the official entry, Bhavna said, “I obviously will see what action can be taken if this is true. But I would be in a better position to discuss this when the situation arises.” 

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