Covering Bollywood and the Hindi Cinema

Vidhu Vinod Chopra is hitting back at all his critics who cannot fathom why  Eklavya was chosen as India’s Entry to the Oscars this year.

“What are the credentials of these people…what is their understanding of cinema…where does their allegiance lie,” said Vidhu Vinod Chopra when asked to react to the comments of a few filmmakers like Farah Khan, Sajid Khan and Anupam Kher who didn’t approve of Eklavya being chosen as the official entry for Oscars this year. “Last year Lage Raho didn’t go, did I, Raju or anybody from my office say why Munnabhai didn’t go, it was a better film. Before that Parineeta didn’t go, Paheli went. Did I say that Shah Rukh made a stupid film. My films didn’t go for two years, I didn’t bother anyone, why are they bothering us now,” Chopra said.
He also makes a passing reference to Bhawna Talwar whose Dharam was considered a strong contender

“The young filmmaker whose film hasn’t gone, I heard, she has said in Mid Day that Eklavya was a boring film. I can tell her, I saw your film, and I thought it was a load of shit. It’s immature, childish.”

 But what about the resistance within the film industry, even people like Anupam Kher (who’ve worked in films like Parinda and 1942 A Love Story) have said that Chak De India would have been a better choice? “My answer is, maybe Anupam has worked more with some other Chopra. To the film fraternity that is opposing, let me tell them, LA Times has called Eklavya a lost film of David Lean. I wonder if these people who shoot back side asses of women know who David Lean is. David Lean is the God of Cinema. He made ‘Lawrence of Arabia.’ When I heard it, I had tears in my eyes. New York Times called it a heart of classic. These people need to be educated a little bit about cinema,” Chopra said.

He says about the phase II of his Oscar plan, “I have an office in Los Angeles and now I will hire some people to take care of the publicity of my film.