The Film Federation of India (FFI) has kick started the process to cherry pick the film, which will officially represent India at the 89th Academy Awards next year. And the deadline for submitting entries for the foreign film category Oscar is October 1. Ketan Mehta has been approached to head the 17-member jury which comprises technicians and artistes within the film industry. As per sources at FFI, the Manjhi director has agreed to do the deed, but not on paper as yet.

• Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court was sent to Los Angeles by the FFI jury last year. It was headed by actor-filmmaker Amol Palekar. India’s strike rate at the Oscars has been poor since the foreign films category was introduced in 1956. Also, Indian entries have frequently stirred controversies, mostly due to the choice of the films selected. For example, some Indian picks for the Academy Awards in the past have included Indian (1996) and Jeans (1998).

• The FFI, a film industry body was authorised to send India’s foreign film entry to the Academy in 2007, however was pulled to court on charges of favouritism to picking Eklavya: The Royal Guard by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. A few years ago, the selection for Barfi (2012) directed by Anurag Basu had a widespread debate on social media because several scenes from the movie were plagiarised from other foreign movies.