Chaitanya Tamhane’s critically acclaimed Marathi film ‘Court’ which won the National Award for Best Feature Film this March, has been chosen as India’s official entry for the Oscars. The movie will now represent the country in the Best Foreign Language category of the 2016 Academy Awards. The winner will be announced in February.

The film ‘Court’ was selected from a shortlist of 30 films by a Film Federation of India jury (17-members) headed by film-maker Amol Palekar. The film has surpassed entries like ‘Bahubali’, ‘Kuttram Kadithal’, ‘PK’, ‘Masaan’, ‘Mary Kom’, Haider’, ‘Kaaka Muttai’, and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan.’  Marathi film-maker Ravi Jadhav, who was part of the jury, made the announcement on Facebook on Wednesday with this post.

According to the critics, Court is one of the best movies to emerge from the country in recent times. The film examines the complexities of the Indian legal system. The Oscar jury of India also said that at every point of the film’s journey, they felt that it has given them more than they could ever imagine.

India has never won an Oscar in the best foreign film category. The last Indian film that made it to the final five list was Ashutosh Gowariker’s “Lagaan.” “Mother India” and “Salaam Bombay” are the other two Indian films to have made it to the top five. Last year, “Liar’s Dice”, a road drama starring Geetanjali Thapa and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in lead roles, was selected as India’s official entry to the Best Foreign Film category of Oscars, but it failed to make it to the top five at the Academy Awards.

Watch the trailer of the movie below:

Our team congratulates the crew behind the movie and we are glad that movie made the entry into 2016 Oscar Awards. The 88th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on February 28, 2016.