Actor Randeep Hooda’s Sarbjit, co starring Aishwarya Rai, has made it to the long list of Oscars hopefuls. The biopic tells the story of alleged spy Sarbjit Singh, and the efforts made by his stern, no-nonsense sister to secure his release. Directed by Omung Kumar, the film received mixed reviews, with most praising Hooda for his performance.
“It feels great to have one’s work appreciated by the Academy Awards, which, I feel, mostly recognises cinematic excellence. A lot of people had, at the time of release, deemed this particular performance Oscar-worthy and then one hears this.”
“Not only that, I hope it goes on to win it. But as far as I know, there is a lot lobbying required to get to that point. As you can see, I’m not good at all at that.”
Making it to the long list is just the first step of the long and arduous process that is the Oscars. Even this is based on a mere technicality. To be a part of the long list, a film has to have been screened in a commercial theatre in Los Angeles County between January 1 and December 31 for at least seven consecutive days; and should have a run-time of more than forty minutes.
This film and Sushant Singh Rajput’s MS Dhoni: The Untold Story have fulfilled both the qualifications, and that’s why they’ve been selected.