Gujarati film Chhello Show, a coming-of-age drama about a boy’s love affair with cinema in a village, is India’s entry for the 95th Academy Awards, the Film Federation of India (FFI) announced.
The English title of the film is the Last Film Show and the director of the film is Pan Nalin. The film will release in theatres country-wide on October 14. According to FFI president TP Aggarwal, Chhello Show was unanimously chosen over films like SS Rajamouli’s RRR, Ranbir Kapoor-led Brahmastra: Part One Shiva, Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files, and R Madhavan’s directorial debut Rockery. “There were 13 films of different languages including six in Hindi- Brahmastra, The Kashmir Files, Anek, Jhund, Badhai Do, and Rockery and one each in Tamil (Iravin Nizhal), Telugu (RRR), Bengali (Aparajito) and Gujarati (Chhello Show) as well as few others,” Aggarwal said.
The film was produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur’s production house Roy Kapur Films, Jugaad Motion Pictures, Monsoon Films, Chhello Show LLP, and Marc Duale. The story is inspired by Nalin’s memories of falling in love with movies as a child in rural Gujarat. Nalin is best known for directing films such as Samsara, Valley of Flowers, and Angry Indian Goddesses. He expressed his gratitude to the FFI and the selection jury.
The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival last year. The 95th Academy Awards will take place on March 12, 2023.
