New Delhi: The Malayalam film 2018 is India’s official entry for the Oscars, reported news agency PTI. 2018, subtitled Everyone Is A Hero, is a survival drama about the floods that devastated Kerala in 2018. Directed by Jude Anthany Joseph, the film stars Tovino Thomas, Kunchacko Boban, Asif Ali, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Narain and Lal. 2018 was released in May this year and is both a critical and box office hit – it is the highest-earning Malayalam film of all time and one of Indian cinema’s top earners this year.
Addressing a press conference, filmmaker and chairman of the 16-member selection committee Girish Kasaravalli said that the Malayalam movie had been picked for its theme of the effects of climate change, reported PTI. As many as 22 films including The Kerala Story, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway, Telugu film Balagam, Marathi films Vaalvi and Baaplyok and August 16, 1947 (Tamil) were considered..
2018 will compete for the Best International Feature Film Oscar, a category that was previously titled Best Foreign Film.
No Indian entry has been nominated for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars since Lagaan in 2002. Only two other films have previously made it to the final five – Mother India, starring Nargis, and Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay!
