Farah says Vidhu Vinod Chopra invented cinema

By: Joginder Tuteja, IndiaFM
Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Farah Khan is puzzled that Vidhu Vinod Chopra has dragged her name amidst all the fiasco of Eklavya - The Royal Guard, being sent as India's nomination for the Oscars.

"I have the least knowledge about how I come into picture," says Farah Khan who is neck-deep busy with the promotion of Om Shanti Om, "In fact I didn't have a word to say about the film, let alone pass a judgment on it being nominated."

What would have made Vidhu Vinod Chopra react? "How do I know?", she questions back, "When asked by some journalists if Eklavya - The Royal Guard was a worthy entry, all I said was that there are so many films in regional languages like Bengali, Telugu, Tamil etc. being made. Since I had not seen any of these movies, how could I have a view on what should/should not be sent?"

She adds, "He is also the one who gave break to SIR DAVID LEAN. Otherwise we mere mortals would not have even heard of Mr. Lean or ever see a film. Thanks Vinod for enlightening the world!"

On a far serious note, there seems to be trouble ahead with the nomination of Eklavya - The Royal Guard being termed biased by Bombay High Court. It has observed that prima facie the selection of the movie appeared biased.

Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Dhananjay have stated that "Prima facie, there seems to be a merit in the argument that the selection process was biased" while hearing a petition filed by Bhavana Talwar director of Dharm. The petition challenges the selection of the Vidhu Vinod Chopra"s film as India's entry for the Oscars.

As per Talwar, the whole selection process was biased as the selection committee members like Sudhir Mishra, Jagdish Sharma and Ranjit Bahadur, were very close to Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

The bench has now asked the Film Federation of India to file a reply within 10 days. Depending upon the order of the court, the film's selection would be decided. Next hearing would be held on October 10.