Ever since the news
of “Barfi!” being selected as India’s official entry for the Oscars has come out, director Anurag Basu has been inundated with congratulatory messages, but he says that the film still has a long way to go.
“Thank you (very) much!!! ‘Lekin abhi Delhi door hai!!’ Pray for us!!” Basu tweeted.
The Film Federation of India (FFI) announced Saturday that Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D’Cruz starrer will be India’s official entry for the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapoor have produced “Barfi!”.
Priyanka, who plays an autistic girl, wishes she could be in India to celebrate with the entire team. “Yaaaaaay!! India’s official entry to the Oscars!!! Anurag sir, RK (Ranbir), Ills (Ileana), Ronnie, Sid (Siddharth) n all wish I was in India to share this! Go team!” said the actress in a post on her Twitter page. She is currently in Los Angeles, US to release her international music album.
“Barfi!”, story of a deaf and mute boy Murphy, played by Ranbir, and his friendship with Jhilmil (Priyanka) and Shruti (Ileana), connected so well with the viewers that it crossed Rs.60 crore collection at the box office.
Made on a budget of reportedly Rs. 30 crore, “Barfi!” was released Sep 14 and it is still drawing full houses in theatres.
So far, only three Bollywood films – Mehboob Khan’s “Mother India” (1957), Mira Nair’s “Salaam Bombay” (1988) and Ashutosh Gowariker’s “Lagaan” (2001) – have made it to the nomination stage.
The 85th Academy Awards are expected to take place in February 2013. (IANS)