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EXCLUSIVE: Director Rima Das on Village Rockstars as the official Oscar 2019 entry: I was waiting for this day
Today, it's a big day for Assamese director Rima Das as her film Village Rockstars is chosen as India’s official entry for the Oscars this year. We got in touch with her to know her reaction.
India is accepting regional cinema with wide open arms. Today, it's a big day for Assamese director Rima Das as her film Village Rockstars is India’s official entry for the Oscars 2019 . It has been selected as India’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars. For the uninitiated, Village Rockstars is a story of Dhunu, a girl from a village in Assam, who has her own dream and wants to chase them. Well, Dhunu wants to have her guitar and have a rock band of her own.
The movie won the National Film Award for Best Film this year. It's a big day for Rima. She took to Twitter and wrote, "With tears of joy and a feeling of pride, I humbly accept this news. #VillageRockstars is India's official entry for the #Oscars ! Let that sink in." We also got in touch with the director and asked about the big news. As soon as she picked up the call, the first word even without we asking her anything was - 'Thank you so much'. When we proved further, she was all elated that the film is India’s official entry for the Oscars.
She told with us with an excitement in her voice, "Everyone is calling and I am saying thanks to everyone. It's a big news and I was waiting for this day. I thought when the movie would be selected for Oscar, I would celebrate. Fortunately, I just reached Assam and my family is happy. I have gotten a chance to talk to my friends. I have to call them and they will get to know about it slowly and slowly."
When we further delved into the conversation, we asked her if she is happy with the current scenario that India is now giving the due respect to regional cinema. On this she told us, "I am very happy about it. It's a big thing for us that India is accepting us and the independent filmmakers. When we got National Awards, it was great as that was unexpected. We have so many languages in India and it's great to know that the things are now changing."
Village Rockstars has surely made it big. The other film that were under the consideration were Meghna Gulzar’s Raazi, Siddharth Malhotra’s Hichki, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat and Tabrez Noorani’s Love Sonia among a few others. We asked how she feel that her movie has overpowered all other movies to make to Oscars. On this, she told us, "I think to make a movie, it needs a lot of efforts. We are just grateful that our film got selected. I can't compare with other films as every film is unique in its own way."
"We are releasing our film on 28th in India and hopefully we get a good response nationwide," she said and signed off.
We hope for the same, Rima! And we also hope that Village Rockstars does get a nomination at Oscars 2019.
