Taare Zameen Par is India's entry for Oscar

TAARE OSCAR PAR: Taare Zameen Par will be India's official entry for the Oscar award for the best foreign film.

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Mumbai: Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan's directorial debut Taare Zameen Par will be India's official entry for the Oscar 81st annual Academy awards for the best foreign film, the jury announced in Mumbai on Saturday.

The announcement was made by filmmaker Suneel Darshan, who headed the film federation of India (FFI) jury to select the film in Mumbai on Thursday.

Taare Zameen Par is written by Amole Gupte and was released in 2007. It received critical and Box Office acclaim.

Aamir said that the movie did business of Rs 131 crore at the Box Office world-wide. It is a sensitive story of an eight-year-old dyslexic child.

Other films in fray for selection were critically acclaimed Marathi films Valu and Tingya, Nishikant Kamat's Mumbai Meri Jaan, Neeraj Pandey's A Wednesday, Ashutosh Gowarikar's Jodhaa Akbar, Farhan Akhtar's Rock On!, Subhash Ghai's Black and White and Telugu film Gamyam.

This will be Aamir Khan's second outing at the Oscars. His first home production Lagaan made history in 2001 when it reached the final nomination list of the foreign film category.

The awards ceremony will be held on February 22, 2009.

Meanwhile, chairman of the jury, Suneel Darshan said the committee members were unanimous in their decision to chose Taare Zameen Par to represent India at the Oscars.

"It was a difficult choice as all the remaining eight films were extremely good. Taare Zameen Par was favoured because of its universal theme," he added.

Darshan said Marathi films Valu and Tingya were highly praised by the committee for their excellent screenplay and treatment.

Marathi filmmakers Mahesh Kothare, Ajay Sarpotdar, art director Bijon Das Gupta, filmmaker Aruna Raje, Ravi Kottarakara from Chennai were other prominent members of the jury, he said.