“Liar's Dice,” an independent film made on a minuscule budget, about an impoverished young woman from Himachal Pradesh who embarks on a journey with her daughter and a pet goat to find her missing husband has been chosen as India's official entry in the Foreign Film category of next year's Academy Awards (Oscars).
The film is written, directed and produced by Malayalee actress and filmmaker Geetu Mohandas and has received widespread acclaim on the film festival circuit. Following its premiere at the Mumbai Film Festival last year, the film competed at Sundance in the world cinema section.
The film stars Nawazzuddin Siddiqui and Geetanjali Thapa, who won the best actress award at this year's 61st National Film Awards where the film also picked up the award for Best Cinematography.
Early this year, the film won the special jury award at the Sofia International Film Festival in Bulgaria.
The film was produced with a grant of EUR 10,000 (approximately £ 8000) from an independent film financing fund based in the Netherlands. The film was chosen from among 30 films by the Film Federation of India. Other shortlisted films included Kangana Ranaut's romantic comedy 'Queen' and Hansal Mehta's 'Shahid'.
India has never won in the Foreign Film category and only three previous films have made the final nominees: 'Mother India' (1958), 'Salaam Bombay' (1989) and 'Lagaan' (2002). The 87th Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles on 22 February.
