Tamil films as India's Oscar Nominee

[kannannn]

That year I was really hoping Hey Ram gets nominated (i.e. makes it to final five).

The final winner was Crouching Tiger....

As much as we know that "Hey! Raam" is a far superior film to CTHD, (or an exciting "Amores perros"), "Hey! Raam" was more provocative. The film had a stage-like sets, which put off the Jury, "Hey! Raam" was the 7th on the list that year. Take the other films which were above it, they were "presented" with some audacious (read Colourful) sets. Note that Jury don't get to revisit the films, like why "Hey! Raam" has an unique visual imagery (Kamal, as always, has a reason). OTOH, CTHD was a Manga material, which marries many themes and different overtones that was "culturally" important to the Oriental backdrop, but all this appealed only because of the presentation. That is where "Hey! Raam" a more 'culturally' significant film, and a Byzantine product in itself, couldn't get across...

For some reason, the members of the Academy are highly inconsistent in their choices. Looking at their past record, one gets the feeling that award goes to the movie that most fascinates them. Certainly Hey! Ram doesn't fall in that group (atleast for them). Intrigue and complexity have rarely been the attributes of the award winners.