Nayattu, Mandela among 14 films shortlisted for India's official entry to Oscars 2022

Malayalam film Nayattu and Tamil film Mandela are among the 14 films that have been shortlisted for India's entry to Oscars 2022. Vidya Balan's Sherni and Vicky Kaushal's Sardar Udham are the other films in contention for India's entry to the Oscars. The screening of these 14 films is currently happening in Kolkata. Veteran filmmaker Shaji N Karun is the chairman of the jury.

Directed by Martin Prakkat and scripted by Shahi Kabir, Nayattu is a haunting survival thriller featuring Kunchacko Boban, Joju George, and Nimisha Sajayan as three police officers on the run after getting involved in an alarming incident with far-reaching consequences.

Recently, the film was named the official selection at the 20th edition of the Swedish International Film Festival (2021) and the 20th edition of the Dhaka International Film Festival (2022).

According to The Cue, 14 films from diverse Indian languages have been shortlisted for the Oscars, out of which only one will make the final cut. The jury will watch the fourteen films over the next few days, discuss and debate, and finalise one film from the fourteen. The shortlisted film will be nominated for an Oscar on March 24, 2022.

Yogi Babu-starrer Mandela is a Tamil satire film, written and directed by Madonne Ashwin. He plays the role of a rural barber who gets wooed by political parties in his village as he has the deciding vote.

Meanwhile, Vidya Balan was appreciated for her performance in Sherni, a Hindi film by Amit V Masurkar, in which she plays a forest officer facing resistance as she tries to capture a man-eating tigress. Sardar Udham, one of the newest films in the block, is directed by Shoojit Sarcar. It has been receiving rave reviews since its OTT release four days ago on Amazon Prime Video. The film tells the story of Sardar Udham Singh who shot a British officer in retaliation for the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919.