Sardar Udham was not selected to be India’s official entry into the Oscars because it “projected our hatred towards the British.” Yup, just days after Tamil film Koozhangal was chosen for the Oscars, Indraadip Dasgupta, a member of the jury that presided over the choice, gave this exact reason for the snub.
While praising the film’s production value and cinematography, Dasgupta also said that Sardar Udham was a bit lengthy and projected our hatred towards the British.
Sardar Udham is a little lengthy and harps on the Jallianwala Bagh incident. It is an honest effort to make a lavish film on an unsung hero of the Indian freedom struggle. But in the process, it again projects our hatred towards the British. In this era of globalization, it is not fair to hold on to this hatred.
Naturally, Indians on the internet who were all aware of 2 centuries of British colonial history, (or maybe they just watched that one Shashi Tharoor Oxford speech on Youtube) didn’t seem very fond of the reasons they were given for the snub.
Note: People don’t actually have anything against Koozhangal, India’s official entry into the Oscars. It’s just that This is just a stupid reason to not select an excellent movie.