On 26 January, one of the producer's of Suriya's Soorarai Pottru, Rajsekar Pandian, took to Twitter to share that the film has entered the Oscars race. He added that the movie will be competing in the categories of Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Original Score.
"Happy Republic Day! #SooraraiPottru joins OSCARS under General Category in Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Original Score & other categories! The film has been made available in the Academy Screening Room today", Pandian had tweeted.
A lot of people began rejoicing after the news, but there is a catch here. As of now, Soorarai Pottru is only available Academy Screening Room. It will require a number of votes to qualify to the next round and then reach the nominees' list.
The Academy Screening Room
The Academy Screening Room is a service wherein filmmakers worldwide can pay in order to make their projects available for screening. A fee of $12,500 (plus the cost of watermarking) is charged, after which the movie is submitted for scrutiny.
Here are some key points which directors have to keep in mind before submitting their movies to the Academy Screening Room:
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences came up with the idea of a screening room to keep up with the times. On one hand DVD screeners will be available, but on the makers can submit their work online to be scrutinised.
The rest of the process remains the same - watch the movies, vote, lobby and then leave it to the Academy for the final announcement.
While the Malayalam film Jallikattu is India's official entry to Oscars 2021, the process is much more complicated for Soorarai Pottru, which premiered on Amazon Prime Video last year.
Apart from Suriya, Soorarai Pottru also stars Mohan Babu, Paresh Rawal and Aparna Balamurali. Directed by Sudha Kongara, the film is a fictionalised version of the biography Simply Fly written by Air Deccan founder Captain GR Gopinath, a retired Army captain who founded the low-cost airline.
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