Ranveer Singh's 'Gully Boy' India's official entry to Oscars

Director Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy, featuring Ranveer Singh in the lead, has been selected as India’s official entry in the International Feature Film category at the 92nd Academy Awards, the Film Federation of India (FFI) announced on Saturday (September 21).

The movie, which released commercially across the country in February this year, also features Alia Bhatt, Vijay Raaz, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Vijay Varma and Amruta Subhash.

“India’s official entry for Oscars this year is Gully Boy. There were 27 films in the running this year but it was a unanimous decision to select Gully Boy,” FFI secretary general Supran Sen told PTI. Celebrated actor-filmmaker Aparna Sen was the head of the jury for this year’s selection committee.

Gully Boy, produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, featured Ranveer as an up-and-coming rapper who sets out to achieve his dream by rhyming about his life on the Mumbai streets.

Farhan took to Twitter to congratulate the team behind the film, which was one of the most critically-acclaimed Hindi movies of 2019. “Gully Boy has been selected as India’s official entry to the 92nd Oscar Awards. #apnatimeaayega. Thank you to the film federation and congratulations #Zoya @kagtireema @ritesh_sid @RanveerOfficial @aliaa08 @SiddhantChturvD @kalkikanmani & cast, crew and hip hop crew,” he wrote.

#GullyBoy has been selected as India’s official entry to the 92nd Oscar Awards. #apnatimeaayega
Thank you to the film federation and congratulations #Zoya @kagtireema @ritesh_sid @RanveerOfficial @aliaa08 @SiddhantChturvD @kalkikanmani & cast, crew and hip hop crew. ?? pic.twitter.com/Eyg02iETmG

— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) September 21, 2019

Kalki, who played a pivotal role in the movie, also expressed her excitement on the film’s Oscar selection. “Woweeeeeeeee! That is just the best Saturday evening news!” she tweeted.

Woweeeeeeeee!!!!!!! That is just the best Saturday evening news! https://t.co/h5MRa2kQlr

— Kalki केकला (@kalkikanmani) September 21, 2019

No Indian film has ever won an Oscar. The last Indian film that made it to the final five in the Best Foreign Film category list was Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan in 2001. Mother India (1958) and Salaam Bombay (1989) are the other two Indian movies to have made it to the top five.

Assamese film Village Rockstars, directed by Rima Das, was India’s official submission to the Oscars last year.