| The Good Road | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Gyan Correa |
| Written by | Gyan Correa |
| Produced by | National Film Development Corporation of India |
| Starring | Ajay Gehi Sonali Kulkarni |
| Cinematography | Amitabha Singh |
| Music by | Rajat Dholakia |
| Release date |
|
| Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Gujarati |
| Budget | ₹ 2.25 crore |
The Good Road is a 2013 Indian Gujarati-language drama film written and directed by Gyan Correa. It was selected as the Indian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. The film won the award for Best Gujarati film at the 60th National Film Awards. It is told in a hyperlink format, where several stories are intertwined, with the center of the action being a highway in the rural lands of Gujarat near a town in Kutch. The film is the first Gujarati film ever selected to represent India at the Oscars.
Cast
- Shamji Dhana Kerasia as Pappu
- Sonali Kulkarni as Kiran
- Ajay Gehi as David
- Keval Katrodia as Aditya
- Poonam Kesar Singh as Poonam
- Priyank Upadhyay as Shaukat
Awards
The film won the Best Gujarati film award at the 60th National Film Awards for "capturing the flavor of the never-ending and undulating highways of the other India and its hidden facets." The film won the Best Feature Film Jury Award at the Indian Film Festival, Houston in October 2013.
Oscar selection
The film was selected out of 20 films initially submitted to the Film Federation of India for consideration for the Oscars. Ritesh Batra's film The Lunchbox was considered to be the frontrunner and certain lock for India's Oscar selection, with many critics unanimously praising it and voting for it to be the representative film. Director Karan Johar also put his support behind the film saying "All kinds of audience can connect with it and yet within the parameters of love story it is completely unusual. You feel all the love in the world for the protagonists and the unusual aspect of it is they haven't met."
However, the selection committee, which deliberated on 17 September 2013, unanimously decided that The Good Road was the perfect film to represent India. Head of the committee was award-winning filmmaker Gautam Ghose, who said, "This is a new film but The Good Road surprises as it shows the unknown India through the story of a boy who is lost and then found while his family is on a holiday trip to Kutch".
The Chief Minister of Gujarat at that time, Narendra Modi tweeted that he was proud that a Gujarati film was selected for the Oscars for the first time.
See also
- List of submissions to the 86th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Indian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
- Pathak, Maulik (20 July 2013). "The Good Road: Footloose in Kutch". livemint.com/. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- "'The Good Road' Selected As The Official Indian Entry For Oscars". India Glitz. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
- "India nominates The Good Road for Oscars in Best Foreign Film Category". Retrieved 21 September 2013.
- "News18.com: CNN News18 Latest News, Breaking News India, Current News Headlines". News18. Archived from the original on 23 September 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
- IndiaTimes (21 September 2013). "Gujarati Film 'The Good Road' is India's Entry for Oscar | Entertainment". www.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
- "60th National Film Awards Announced" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau (PIB), India. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- "'The Good Road' wins Houston (IFFH) Award!". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
- "Hope The Lunchbox wins an Oscar: Karan Johar". Hindustan Times. 17 September 2013. Archived from the original on 18 September 2013. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
- PTI (4 September 2013). "'The Good Road' nominated as India's entry for Oscars". The Hindu. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
- "Twitter / narendramodi: Delighted to know that Gujarati". Twitter.com. Retrieved 21 September 2013.