Promising Filmmaker PS Vinothraj was ecstatic after his debut film Koozhangal (Pebbles) won the Tiger Award, the prestigious top honour at the 50th edition of the ‘International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFRR) 2021’ in the Netherlands in February. Competing against 15 films that included Landscapes of Resistance (Marta Popivoda), Looking for Verena (Norika Sefa), Black Medusa (Ismael Yuosuff Chebbi) and The Edge of Daybreak (Taiki Sakpisit) to name a few, Koozhangal bagged the top honour, making it the first Tamil film and second Indian film after Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s S Durga. Vinothraj is still on cloud nine as Pebbles has rolled on to make entry into this year’s 94th Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars. He is excited as Koozhangal would be competing along with 95 other entries from about 100 categories for the coveted Oscar in the ‘Best International Film category’. The five final nominations would be announced on February 8, 2022 and the Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on March 27, 2022. “Could not be happier to receive this news!!! Feeling really grateful for all the love and support,” tweeted Vinothraj, as messages kept flashing in his mobile phone that his film has made India’s official entry for the ‘Best International Film’ category at the 94th Academy Awards. In all, 14 films were shortlisted for this year's India's official entry to the Oscars 2022. Among them were Malayalam film Nayattu, Tamil film Mandela and Hindi film Sardar Udham. Shaji N Karun, the chairperson of the 15-member selection committee watched the 14 films in Kolkata and picked up Koozhangal. The jury members were unanimous in selecting Koozhangal, reports suggested. Countries like Italy, France, Spain, Japan, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Argentina, Iran and the Soviet Union had been dominating the Academy Awards all these years. India’s ‘Mother India’ made first Oscar entry way back in 1957. This was also the first of only three Indian films to be nominated at the Academy Awards – the other two being ‘Salaam Bombay’ (1988) and ‘Lagaan’ (2001) but they failed to make a buzz. While Mother India lost to The Nights of Cabiria, an Italian film, Salaam Bombay lost it to Cinema Paradiso, also an Italian film. ‘Lagaan: Once upon a time in India’, released in June 2001 received widespread critical acclaim and won several National and International awards. The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language film at the 74th Academy Awards nomination ceremony but lost to ‘No Man’s Land’, a Bosnian film. After nearly a decade, Koozhangal has raised the hope. If one goes by its sheer grit, the evocative and powerful Koozhangal stood a chance...