Tamil Movies That Made It To The Oscars

Much has been said and written about Visaranai, a Tamil language movie, being chosen as the Indian entry to Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. The film which highlights prison brutality, still has a long way to go before the nominations. And going by the history of only 3 Indian entries getting nominated in the last 60 years, it is safe to say it will be no easy task, to earn a nomination. In the event of anticipating a tough journey ahead, we decided to take a look back on all the Tamil movies which represented the country at the Oscars, so far.

Deiva Magan - 1969 (Indian Entry At the 42nd Academy Awards)

This movie created history by being the first South Indian movie to be selected for an Indian entry. Directed by AC Tirulokchander, the movie saw the legendary Sivaji Ganesan and the current chief minister, Ms. J. Jayalalitha in leading roles. Sivaji played three roles which included a father, a son and his twin with a scarred face. The movie revolved around the bad decisions of a father who abandons his physically scarred child which eventually leads to the death of his son. Though the movie was a stinging satire on the then existing societal views, it failed to make an impact with the Academy members and never made it to the nomination.

Nayakan - 1987 (Indian Entry At the 60th Academy Awards)

The streak of a Tamil movie never making an Oscar entry was again broken by a legend, actor Kamal Hassan. His role in the Mani Ratnam directorial happens to be a classic and gained him worldwide recognition when it made it to an Oscar entry. The movie revolved around the lives of people living in the Dharavi slums of Mumbai region. The story was considered authentic as it highlighted the challenges caused by the language and cultural barrier among people of the same country. Slums seemed to have worked for Slumdog Millionaire (giving AR Rahman his two academies) but it certainly did not work for Nayakan and the movie failed to get a nomination.

Anjali - 1990 (Indian Entry At the 63rd Academy Awards)

Mani Ratnam's second movie to make an entry, Anjali represented India at the Oscars in the year 1990. A heart-wrenching subject, the movie follows a family of four who discover the existence of a fifth member who happens to be an autistic 2 year old. The upheaval undergone, post the discovery of an existing child forms the core of the movie. Anjali, the national award winning feature film of that year however failed to impress the Academy and never got to feature in the nominees list. 

Thevar Magan - 1992 (Indian Entry At the 65th Academy Awards)

This movie had stars from two earlier Oscar entries - Sivaji Ganesan and Kamal Haasan. Written and produced by Kamal Haasan, Thevar Magan was centered on caste system and spoke particularly about the thevar clan. It was about their systems, traditions and how it impacted people in and around. With a subject as authentic as this, the movie was a sure shot hope at the Oscars but the nominations continued to elude. 

Kuruthipunal - 1995 (Indian Entry At the 68th Academy Awards)

Kuruthipunal was the third Kamal Haasan starrer to make it to the Oscar entries and the actor's second home production to do so. Remake of the Hindi movie Drohkaal, Kuruthipunal was a film about fights between the law force and terror groups in wiping each other off. It spoke about moles, issues, strategies and traitors amongst them. Some scenes from the film were even considered explicit for its time. In spite of gaining the actor a Filmfare award, the movie failed to get a nomination at the Oscars. 

Indian - 1996 (Indian Entry At The 69th Academy Awards)

This second consecutive Kamal-starrer Oscar entry had then started giving the vibe that Haasan was the only Oscar relief of Tamil Nadu. The film focuses on an ex-freedom fighter turned vigilante who is hell bent on rooting out corruption and his son, who on the other hand facilitates corrupt practices. Both the roles were portrayed by the same actor. Despite the movie's inclusion of world class art and technology (make-up and graphics by Hollywood technicians) it wasn't good enough to earn an Oscar nomination. 

Jeans - 1998 (Indian Entry At The 71st Academy Awards) 

1998 happened to be the fourth consecutive year for a South Indian movie to be finalized for an Oscar entry and Jeans was the third Tamil film in those four years. An S. Shankar directorial, this mega budgeted movie sparked a wide-spread debate when the name was announced. Most argued that the movie was a mere commercial entity while some reasoned that the use of modern technology (CGO for Graphics) for a full length movie made it worthy enough. Though the technology was way ahead of its time, it did not leave an impression with the jury and the movie was not nominated. 

Hey Ram - 2000 (Indian Entry At The 73rd Academy Awards)

A period film based on India's partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, this Kamal Haasan - Shahrukh Khan starrer failed to create waves at the Oscars in spite of having a gripping story line. The movie's screenplay shifts between the present and the past indicating the life of a man who also had plans of murdering Mr. Gandhi. Hey Ram was the last Tamil movie to get selected for an Oscar entry in the past 15 years.

Visaranai - 2016 (India Entry At The 89th Academy Awards)

Based on a novel by M Chandrakumar, titled Lock Up, Visaranai is a crime thriller which speaks about prison brutality. While many are rejoicing at the honour returning to the Tamil cine industry after 16 years,  the film's selection has its share of opposers too. This however, is due to lack of popularity as the core subject is not something many relate to. Having said that we should also keep in mind that one of Hollywood's greatest classics, Shawshank Redemption is based on the same prison brutality. Also one cannot ignore the fact that Visaranai has grabbed three national awards this year. Let us hope that the winning streak transcends till the Oscars and brings the nation nothing but pride.