Chhello Sow director Pan Nalin has said that he and his team faced threats after their film was selected as India's official entry to the Oscars
Gujarati film Chhello Show (Last Film Show) managed a major coup after it was named as India’s official entry for the Academy Awards this year. It was widely anticipated that SS Rajampuli’s RRR would take the honour given its popularity in the West but the small-budget Gujarati film prevailed. However, the film’s director Pan Nalin has now revealed that he and his team faced abuse, threats, and warnings, turning that joyous moment into a sad one.
India’s official selections for the Oscars are done by the Film Federation of India. This year, the FFI jury designated Chhello Show to be India’s entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the prestigious awards. Many were taken aback by the selection as Chhello Show wasn’t considered a frontrunner prior to the announcement.
Talking about that time, Pan Nalin recently told Mid-Day, “That moment soon turned sad (as we faced) baseless allegations, and trolling. The worst was the cyber attack prior to our film’s release. My team was threatened with warnings: ‘Oscars mein se film nikaal, nahin toh achcha nahin hoga’ (Withdraw your film from the Oscars or it won’t be good). Instead of celebrating and campaigning in the US, we were busy fighting this for three to four weeks.”
The director added that after the film was released in theatres later in September and eventually on Netflix, people’s opinions changed. “When the Indian audience, film critics and industry folks finally watched the movie, they could not stop themselves from falling in love with it. In the end, the power of cinema won,” he said.
Chhello Show has now moved one step closer to winning the coveted Academy Award. Earlier this week, it made the shortlist of 10 films for the Best International Feature Film category at the 95th Academy Awards. The final nominations will be out in January 2023 and the awards will be announced in March.
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 "Pan Nalin, director of Chhello Show, opens up about the hate and abuse his team faced after the film was selected for the Oscars")
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