2017 is definitely a year of despising to the native Bollywood filmmakers. With surprisingly stunning factors South Indian movie Baahubali broke the barriers, becoming the biggest hit of the era. On the other hand, Amit Masurkar’s directorial, starring Rajkumar Rao ‘NEWTON’ has become a sleeper hit, on the top of everything, it garnered the Oscar-nomination too.
While it is Dangal, that is definitely most successful commercial film India has ever got. Now, coming to the Oscars, there is much hullaballoo regarding the selection of the movies.People are scratching their brains over Film Federation of India (FFI) selecting NEWTON over Dangal and Baahubali. Though the makers of Dangal has never expressed anything about the same, director of Baahubali, SS Rajamouli has congratulated the movie and opined that he is not at all disappointed with the results.
Now, when it is about Oscars, the bars definitely are high and those factors that must be discussed are all according to the norms and regulations of the Academy.
Coming to the contexts of movies, individually about Newton, Baahubali, and Dangal, let us interpret them based on the plotline and concept.
Firstly, Newton:
“This movie is a black satire comedy on the World’s largest democracy, on a simple note, it is a commentary of contemporary times that portrays an idealistic government clerk who is trying to survive the apathy, lethargy, and corruption around him. The main plot revolves around an honest election officer’s attempt to conduct a free and fair poll in a conflict-hit area of Chhatisgarh forests named Dandakaranya.”
Being realistic, social, and a direct take on the National politics, this movie is a standout in any form and is unanimously the best movie of 2017.
Why not Baahubali?
This surely is a landmark film in Indian cinema. Baahubali has raised the bars of filmmaking in terms of visuals, sound effects, making, screenplay and what not! The lead actors did the fantastic job, supporting actors are no excuse. While, coming to the voice of realism in the movie, it is ultimately a muted one. The commercial craze and the spellbound visuals aren’t enough to hike the movie into Oscars.
Why not Dangal?
This 2016’s biopic is one of the most acclaimed movies starring Aamir Khan. While there are almost few reasons to adjust to the fact that Dangal didn’t make it to the Oscars, it is only clear that NEWTON out-bested this critical and commercial venture. While the Rajkumar’s flick is stuck to the empathy of reality, Dangal didn’t stand that.
On the whole, let us walk through the highlighted points that made NEWTON a special movie:
1. NEWTON isn’t a hero-centric movie, the movie sheds light on the unspoken Naxalite influence in the villages. Talking about the same, its director Amit Masurkar said, “I wanted to tell a story in the political space. The reason for choosing Chhattisgarh is that the issue here is different from the two that you have mentioned. Naxals are not asking for a separate country or fighting for development or seeking an answer to any injustices.”
2. Talking about the script, he said, “I showed the script to a couple of studios who said that ‘Oh, it’s politics… Youth have no interest in it’. The moment I narrated the story to Manish (Manish Mundra of Drishyam Films), he said ‘Yes’ in no time.”
3. Focusing on the idea of Naxalism, it is very much imperative to control Left-wing extremism for the country’s growth. The film shows the real issues of that area. Amit on this subject has said: “I hope this brings more attention to what is happening in Chhattisgarh right now.”
4. The appreciation: There’s no room less for this, NEWTON has already earned global recognition. It won the CICAE award at Berlin film festival earlier this year and the jury prize at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. It also scored nominations at the Buenos Aires, Edinburgh, Istanbul, Jerusalem and the TriBeCa film festivals.