What if think if “Monsoon Wedding” would have been India’s official entry to Oscar instead of “Lagaan”. There was a high probability that it would have won the Foreign Film Oscar. Almost entire American media and press have praised Monsoon Wedding and is in the top 20 though it’s a limited release. Americans understood Monsoon Wedding better than Lagaan. Lagaan was 4 hours with a cricket match while the theme of Monsoon wedding was universal.
I dont understand the logic of each country sending just one entry. Why cant one country send more if they have Oscar worthy material.
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[This message has been edited by Admin (edited May 24, 2002).]
Danis Tanovic beat Aamir Khan to win the Oscar for the Best Foreign Film with No Man's Land. Danis Tanovic has shot over 300 hours of footage for the Bosnian army's film archive, as well as documentaries like Portraits d'Artistes Pendant la Guerre about artists during Sarajevo's siege. No Man's Land has three soldiers caught between Serb and Bosnian trenches at the height of the Balkan war in 1993. Written in 14 days, shot over 26, and cut in 12, Tanovic simply says, "I knew what I wanted. I'm a professional. What's the point of cutting a film over a year?" How does it feel to win an Oscar for your very first feature film? Winning an Oscar for the first film, after 42 other awards, among which are the Screenplay Award in Cannes, European Academy Award and the Golden Globe, is much too much. I never expected anything like this. The Oscar was the cherry on the cake. After the first joy, you cannot but be very serious regarding your next work. What next? I'm a very both-feet-on-the-ground kind of guy, so I haven't been swept away by all the hype. I'm just concerned that my next film should be as good as No Man's Land. I'm glad I decided against having an American agent and not making my next film in the US. I had seen too many colleagues make that mistake and accepted to work in Los Angeles. Did you see Lagaan? What did you think of it? I loved Lagaan. I have the DVD at home and now that life is getting back to normal, I'm looking forward to seeing it again, together with my wife and producer Cedomir Kolar. During all the pre-Oscar events, during the ceremony, and after it, while waiting in line for the limos, I met Ashutosh Gowariker and Aamir Khan. The Lagaan delegation was certainly the most elegant one inside Kodak Theatre. I met them again at the Governor's Ball. Lagaan is beautiful and it leaves the viewer with a real sense of joy. How was the transition from documentary to fiction? There's not much difference between making documentaries and features. It's tougher to make documentaries. When you make feature films, you have a script, which is a Bible. While in documentary you can write whatever you want. You spend a lot of time in the battlefields. Did you borrow from experiences there for the film? The film is full of details that most people would never notice. The cigarettes that Chiki, one of the characters, smokes are wrapped in newspaper. You won't see it, but Bosnians would. No Man's Land is full of such details.