Why Eklavya IS the best choice for Oscars

This year is just as controversial, as Eklavya isn't in the top 10 best reviewed films of the year. As a matter of fact, even though the year isn't over yet, it currently ranks at #14 in the top 20 best reviewed films of the year (for the top films of this year, click here). It also didn't perform well at the box office. Back in March I wrote an article about desi critics vs. international critics (you can view the article by clicking here) and how of the 14 reviews Eklavya received that were four stars or higher, 5 were from international critics. As a matter of fact, if you took out the 7 international critics which helped Eklavya score a 63%, the film would fall three whole percentage points to a 60%. However, the Oscars are for films that would appeal to an international audience, which Eklavya clearly did. The only other highly rated films to come out of India that received several international reviews were Guru (72%) and Chak De India (71%). Did Eklavya deserve to go to the Oscars over the other films? Let's take a look. The best reviewed film of the group is Guru, with a 72%. Of the 57 reviews it received, 54 were positive, 2 were average and 1 was negative. Of those reviews, 11 were from acclaimed international sources, which were the BBC, LA Weekly, TV Guide, New York Post, Variety, Montral Film Journal, the South Africa Daily News, Time, the New York Times, and the Toronto Star. Just counting those sources, the film would score a 3.65 average rating or a 73% with international critics. The next film was Chak De India, which scored a 71% with 65 reviews, of which 59 were positive, 3 were average and 3 negative. Of those reviews, 11 were from acclaimed international sources, which were the BBC, South Africa Sunday Times, the South Africa Daily News (which had 2 reviews), Hollywood Reporter, LA Weekly, Independent Weekly, NY Times, Variety, Times Online and the Film Journal International. With just those international sources, Chak De India scores a 73%, which is equal to Guru's 73%.

As for Eklavya, 6 reviews came from acclaimed international sources which were the BBC, LA Weekly, South Africa Daily News, South Africa Sunday Times, LA Times and The Guardian. With those reviews, it scores a 3.75 or 75% with international critics, beating both Chak De India and Guru.At Rottentomatoes.com, which aggregates International film reviews, Eklavya again scored the best of the three films, scoring a perfect 100%, while Guru followed with a 82% and Chak De India with a 80%.

Of course, with all three films it's very close and a few glowing reviews would tip the scales for any of the three films. As a matter of fact, a case can easily be made for any of the three films. However, this should show that Eklavya shouldn't be as controversial a decision as people are making it out to be.

When I was asked several weeks ago about which film I felt had the best chance of making it to the Oscars, the first films I could think of were Chak De India, Black Friday (80%) (which is the best reviewed film of the year), Guru, Dharm (74%) and Eklavya. I felt Dharm and Black Friday would have the toughest time of the 5 because they are more authentic, in that they connect better if you are from India or understand the culture even though Black Friday was my favorite film of the year.

Chak De India was the next to be scrapped off of my list because the underdog sports story has been told so many times in International cinema. With most of the Oscar judges being from the U.S., Chak De India isn't that unique, although it is a very well made film. As a matter of fact, there are several well made underdog sports oriented films that come out each year in the U.S.. When I watched Chak De India with a movie reviewer for a U.S. newspaper, her thoughts were that it was a good film, but reminded her of The Mighty Ducks, an American children's comedy that came out almost 15 years ago.

That leaves Guru and Eklavya. While I enjoyed Guru, I didn't like it as much as other people did. I noticed that people from India liked the film a lot more than people who were born overseas. It was a tough call, but I felt Eklavya would be more appreciated with International critics. So I had actually picked Eklavya, even though it was my fourth favorite film on that list (behind Black Friday, Dharm and Chak De India but ahead of Guru).

The bottom line is when you're talking about films, you're talking about popular opinion as opposed to fact, which is why the debate over whether or not Eklavya is the right choice can go on forever. However, from an international audience point of view, it does not appear to be a bad choice.

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