'Newton' is India's official entry for the Oscars: Rajkummar Rao

Mumbai: National-Award winning Rajkummar Rao's latest release "Newton" is India's official entry for Academy Awards in 2018. An excited Rajkummar on Friday took to Twitter to announce the news.

"Very happy to share this news that 'Newton' is India's official entry to the Oscars this year. Congratulations team," he tweeted.

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta, who is a good friend of Rajkummar and has collaborated with him for films like "Shahid" and "Aligarh", took to Twitter to express his happiness and said that "Newton" is the best choice.

"'Newton' is India's entry to the Oscars. The best choice in years by the federation," Mehta tweeted.

He added: "If films like 'A Separation' and 'Children of Heaven' made it to the Oscar nominations so can 'Newton'. It is our best shot. Manish Mundra go for it!"

"Newton" revolves around a young government clerk who is sent on election duty to a Maoist-controlled town and how the ideological struggle puts him in an awkward situation.

Directed by Amit Masurkar, "Newton" released on Friday. The film is produced by Manish Mundra of Drishyam Films, the company best known for backing critically-acclaimed projects such as "Masaan" and "Umrika".

Rajkummar will soon be seen in other projects like "Love Sonia", "5Weddings", "Ittefaq: It Happened One Night" and "Fanney Khan".

Popular TV host Jimmy Kimmel will return to host the Academy Awards in 2018. He will host the 90th edition of the awards on March 4.