Based on some real-life events.
Vetrimmaran’s directorial venture Visaaranai will be India’s official entry to the Academy Awards 2017 in the Foreign Language Film category, reported The Times of India.
The selection committee of the Film Federation of India, the trade body that represents Indian film industry, announced its decision regarding the selection of the Tamil Movie on Wednesday.
Produced by Dhanush’s Wunderbar Productions, Visaaranai had bagged three national awards including the Best Feature Film in Tamil, Best Supporting Actor for Samuthirakani and Best Editing for Kishore.
The docudrama crime thriller is based on the novel Lockup written by M Chandrakumar, an auto rickshaw driver from Coimbatore. The film revolves around the life of four migrant workers in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh where they were accused of a crime they never committed.
The police brutally tortured them to confess the crime before they were killed in an encounter. The film has links to some real-life events.
Visaaranai was premiered in the Orrizonti (Horizons) section of the 72nd Venice Film Festival, where it won the Amnesty International Italia Award. It was the first Tamil film to receive the award. The film which was critically acclaimed had opened up a debate about police brutality.
Earlier, India had sent Tamil Movies such as Jeans, Indian, Kurithipunal, Devar Magan, Anjali, Nayagan, Deiva Magan for the Oscars.
Dhanush, the producer of the film took to Twitter and wrote a long statement about the selection of the movie. “This is just turning out to be a glorious day. After the super positive initial reports for ‘Thodari,’ Now Visaaranai has been selected as the official entry to Oscars from India,” Dhanush wrote.