Santosh Davakhar, director of 'Gondhal', on film becoming India's official Oscar entry: 'We have a rich culture and heritage, and we should represent India through good cinema' Marathi filmmaker Santosh Davakar has spoken about his film ‘Gondhal’, which has been chosen as India’s official submission for the 99th Academy Awards.

Built around the traditional Gondhal folk ritual practised in Maharashtra, the film explores themes of faith, regional culture and everyday social realities, offering a distinctly local perspective on the global stage.A proud moment for Marathi cinema ‘Gondhal’ was selected from a competitive pool of 33 films, including the big-ticket ‘Dhurandhar’.

Speaking about the honour to India Today, Santosh Davakar revealed that his team had already begun preparing for an Oscar campaign even before the official announcement.“I’m feeling really proud.

We had already started our Oscar campaign.

By any means, we were convinced that we would take our film to the Oscars this year.

So, this is really great news.

We are extremely thankful to the Government of India, the Federation of India and the FFI jury for selecting ‘Gondhal’ as India’s official entry.

It’s a very proud feeling for the entire team,” he said.Davakar also drew on his previous experience with international film festivals to explain what motivated him to make ‘Gondhal’.

He recalled taking a film to Cannes in 2016 and said the experience helped him understand how international audiences perceive India.

“We have had some previous experience with international audiences.

In 2016, I had the opportunity to take a film to an international platform, Cannes, and I understood how international audiences perceive India.

There is a certain perception of India internationally, especially around issues like poverty and casteism.

Personally, I feel that we have a really rich culture.

India is a diverse country.

We have a rich culture and heritage, and we should represent India through good cinema.

That is why I decided to make a film around ‘Gondhal’,” he said.Filmmaker says the Oscar campaign is already underway Interestingly, Davakar revealed that he learned about the film’s selection through media reports rather than an official communication.

By then, however, his team had already begun preparing for the next phase of the campaign in Los Angeles.“I got to know from the media.

We had already started preparing for Los Angeles.

We have hired a PR team in Los Angeles because they have very good experience.

They have already worked on around 27 nominations over the previous 20 years.

We have also hired a Finland-based team for social media, so we are already working on the campaign,” he said.Davakar acknowledged the responsibility that comes with representing India on the international stage and said the entire team would put in its efforts to take the film forward.“We understand the responsibility that comes with representing India.

Our entire team will put in all our efforts to take the film to the Oscars.

Getting there is a big task, and reaching the final stage would be an even bigger achievement.

We are fully prepared for it,” he added.Oscar campaign to begin next month Speaking about the timeline for the campaign, Davakar confirmed that promotional activities will begin next month.“From next month.

We are starting next month,” he said.The complete list of contenders ‘Gondhal’ emerged as India’s selection from a pool of 33 films submitted for consideration this year.

The other contenders included ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’, ‘Border 2’, the ‘Dhurandhar’ franchise, ‘Dug Dug’, ‘Haq’, ‘Bhamardo’, ‘120 Bahadur’, ‘Sing Geetham’, ‘Tera Mera Nata’, ‘Ladoo’, ‘Ohh My Dog’, ‘Balan The Boy’, ‘Deool Band 2’, ‘Tighi’, ‘Peddi’, ‘Irumudi’, ‘Dorothy’, ‘Khoonta’, ‘Gandhi Talks’, ‘Bison Kalaamadan’, ‘Shape of Momo’, ‘Governer’, ‘2020 Delhi’, ‘Commando Vin Love Story’, ‘Ikkis’, ‘Pravas’, ‘Man Aatale Manaatle’, ‘Obsess’, ‘Egwa’, ‘Angh’ and ‘Hanuman Ansh’.

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