Since the last two years, FFI or Film Federation Of India has suddenly changed its stance. Earlier all the jury members used to be in the presser to announce the name of the film selected as India’s entry for the Oscars. Now, it’s all a big secret. And that’s quite baffling because nobody says why it’s a secret. More because none of the renowned film festival or prestigious film awards keeps its jury a secret. I can’t think of any. In fact, most take pride in announcing the names of their jury members. It becomes more important when a controversy like this happens – why can’t the members publicly endorse and fight for the film they picked to represent the country? I don’t have any answers.
So here’s the list of the 19 FFI jury members who picked “The Good Road”.
1. Gautam Ghose – Filmmaker, Chairman of the jury
2. Rupa Ganguly – Actor
3. Agni Mitra Paul – Fashion/Costume Designer
4. Sujoy Ghosh – Filmmaker
5. Onir – Filmmaker
6. Bharthiraja
7. N Shankar – Filmmaker
8. K P Kumaran – Filmmaker
9. Mahesh Kothare – Actor/Director
10. Suhasini Mani Ratnam – Director/writer
11. Indraneel Bose
12. Sanjay Verma
13. Kamlesh Pandey – Screenwriter
14. Ramadoss Naidu
15. Kavita Lankesh – Director/Writer
16. Vijay Patkar – Actor
17. Aarti Anand
18. Vidya Sagar – Music Director
19. C V Reddy – Filmmaker
Strangely, we spoke to at least six of them and all are repeating the same lines – it was unanimous decision to pick The Good Road. 19 people and all felt that TGR was better than everything else. or all have been told to say the same thing? Now that the names are out, am hoping at least some people will speak up why The Good Road is better than other films. Seriously, forget The Lunchbox. Just tell us what
we are missing. They need to enlighten us and make us see what’s great about TGR. Some of the names are quite well known and they know much more about cinema than all of us. So it will be good to know what’s good in their books and why. Waiting.
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F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 
waiting… me too
LOL.. with people like Sujoy Ghosh, Onir, Kamlesh Pandey in the jury!!!
Looks like jury member had some kind of grudge against UTV!! Well done guys..
People like Mahesh Kothare who makes an average Marathi Cinema is in the jury list. What more can we expect..
I dont know what to say .. but looks like they were pressurized to take this call
it was unanimous decision and then we also sang ” Hum logon ko samajh sako toh samjho dilwar jaani ” in chorus – FFI .
sujoy ghosh and onir too????????????????? god knows what the fuck going on????????
I can actually imagine some of the members watching SOT and saying “Kitna Footage Kha Raha Hain!!”
Btw wat is Suhasini Maniratnam doing here..????
Btw wat is Suhasini mani Ratnam doing here?????
this list makes sure everything was agenda, I am sure Onir was against Lunchbox
kiske sar pe bandook rakh ke naam nikala?! good job! 🙂
Rupa Ganguly this witnessed the ‘cheer-haran’ of Indian cinema, is it?
I think Arvind Kejriwal was right. Lokpal hota toh aisa nahi hota.
Its really make me sad that sujoy ghosh n onir like people made thiss decision…n later ki oscar hum nahi jitte..kaha se saare ke saare bewkuf bhare pare hai..Jitna koi chahta hi nhi Too angry n sad
kuch log kah rhe AGENDA TGR ko niche krne ka me To un bewkufo ke liye abe achi movie ko promore kr rhe Cilemasnob jaise log…ki India ki or duniya dekhe respect se ki naacha gaana se upar bhi movie banate hum…Hollywood reporter predicted in top 5..sony classic distributing…won in cannes so many awards but in India some 19 juries member dunno what dey have done in their life…n decided something else..lets some movie which represent TRUE INDIA POOR INDIA
not to win oscar but which movie represent INDIA……..
hahaha what fun…..seems like a case of grudge….or do u think its resul pookuttys previous oscar win n hence power titled the vote? can a foriegn film be nominated for sound design?
cant believe mrs mani ratnam dint find luncbox similar to her own husbands earlier films. atleast the sensibilities were so similar. we want to know who voted for which films to clear the speculative air.
bahut achche snobu! maan gaye.. yeh hoti hai investigative journalism! sabse pehle apne mitr, ghosh babu ko khada kariye ab bench pe.. 19 log unanimous aur woh bhi TGR ke liye (watched it, so please spare me and yes, its the tackiest i’ve seen in a while).. seems like a case of mass-hypnotism. And for those defending TGR, saw it and still feel the Lunchbox, on all counts was a better prospect. Kuch bhi defend karoge kya…
What i’m saying might be crap, but I strongly get the feeling this was instigated by Congress to take a film which shows Gujarat in poor light to the global platform to counter Modi for their own election propaganda
Yes, that is indeed crap. We are diverting from the real issue here.
i agree with you…what you’re saying is crap
Ok, I concede.But you have to rely on crap to explain a crappy decision.
dirty politics
C’mon, please get over it, Lunchbox is nothing more than an average US style romantic comedy. Just because we are comparing it to shit like Shudh Desi Romance doesn’t make it a great film. It’s obviously a case where a film with heavy bollywood backing & giant PR machinery (utv, kashyap, dharma prods etc) is up against a tiny, unknown independent film and the so called “independents” (of now we must count karan johar, i suppose) are not too happy about that. The whole thing is a pathetic and very real vision of what indian “indpendent” film making is all about – monopolies and politics. tragic.
agree
I second that.
totally agree with you
Its people like you who time and again reassure me of purelity of cinema goers. In which “average style american comedy” did you see the performances of the year and so much handheld camera and such a mindblowing narrative and such beautiful cuts and etc… If you think that it being associated with karan johar and anurag kashayap makes it a “so called independent”………, then i have nothing but love for you brother . You really dont know what independent cinema is. Than you must imply that since its accesible and releasing all over india and people know about it, it mustn’t be independent? Wah. Great going.
GREAT JOB SIR! It’s sad the people like Onir who keep giving us ‘gyaan’ on movies and Indian Cinema are the ones that can’t even decide which film is better. And Sujoy Ghosh? Maker of Kahaani? Did he supoort the movie because another Ghosh supoorted it?
majority was Bong & also nation wants to know what were they smoking?
From this jury, I can actually see a few of them voting for The Good Road, but the moment they say “The decision was unanimous”, it not only insults our collective intelligence but also seems to validate all the conspiracy theories! So what was it – Jealousy, ignorance or a collective brain freeze. Any which way, I think these guys should be held accountable. Anyone for a candle light vigil?
Imagine if BCCI sent it’s B team to the World Cup, the furore and national outrage that would follow. Wish we took our cinema as seriously! Until we do that, we will remain the laughing stock at international film events. I am actually very disappointed with our Media. Instead of making it an issue of National prestige, they have made it Anurag Kashyap and Karan Johar’s personal issue.
Finally, what’s the point supporting an Indie if it’s not as good as “mainstream” cinema! We should be really happy that a film like Lunchbox is now being produced by our mainstream.
It was our Golden Chance, but then the story of the barber killing the goose comes from our nation only!
guys, official selection is the only way to Oscars? cant we go independently? koi Aur rasta nahi hai ?
Oops ! At least the jury has seen the film that they have selected! We haven,t even seen the selected film !
agnimitra paul? are u fucking serious? i don’t generally use such gendered words, but i can’t help shouting that no one even in calcutta takes this bimbo seriously. someone who’s claim to fame was her fling with a top IPS officer rather than her craft is empowered to choose the film that represents the country at Oscars?? WOW!!!!!!
Mahesh Kothare, Vijay Patkar WTF :O
[…] do? He single-handedly killed Gautam Gosh and his gang with his M60 blazing in this and this […]
Shame that you want names. I demand the names of everyone who visits this site and have gone and seen those atrocious, obnoxious movies and made them so successussful over the last 20 years in this country. You may not have them. I demand that everyone volunteers and jots their name down here. All those who have ever contributed to the success of every fucked up film. Don’t you realise anything at all? You, I and everyone else are the cause. Die. All you who think the water of the ganges will cleanse them.
[…] who is surprised? Well, i guess esteemed members of the FFI jury who selected it as India’s entry for the Foreign Language Oscar and some other gyaani […]