Advertisement

Help
You are here: Rediff Home » India » Movies » PTI
Search:  Rediff.com The Web
Advertisement
  Discuss this Article   |      Email this Article   |      Print this Article

Ekalavya's selection for Oscar looks biased: Bombay HC
Get Movies updates:What's this?
Advertisement
September 29, 2007 19:31 IST
Last Updated: September 29, 2007 19:53 IST

Amitabh [Images] Bachchan-starrer Hindi feature film Eklavya, India's official entry to the Oscars, on Saturday got into a legal tangle with the Bombay High Court observing that prima facie the selection of the movie appeared biased.

"Prima facie, there seems to be a merit in the argument (that the selection process was biased)," said a division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud while hearing a petition challenging the selection of  Eklavya - the Royal Guard.

The bench asked the Film Federation of India, which selected the film, to file a reply within 10 days and said, "Consequences of the film's selection  would be subject to the court order."

The bench posted the matter to October 10 for further hearing. The petition was filed by director of film Dharm  Bhavana Talwar challenging the selection.

Talwar's main contention is that the whole selection process was biased as some members of the selection committee, namely film director Sudhir Mishra, Jagdish Sharma and Ranjit Bahadur, were "very close" to Chopra.

Bahadur was the editor of  Making of Eklavya', a promotional film on Ekalavya, the petitioner said.

The judges made it clear that high court has jurisdiction to hear such a case, by noting that "any process of selection which appears to be result of general or specific bias or arbitrariness can invite judicial review".


© Copyright 2007 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.


 Email this Article      Print this Article

© 2007 Rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer | Feedback