The recent controversy involving Vidhu Vinod Chopra has ruffled quite a lot of feathers amongst the Indian Film Industry’s known names. Earlier the inclusion of movies in the race for an Academy award meant little anticipation as most of the times Bollywood ended up turning out crap and most of the good movies were labeled as parallel cinema. But after the not too recent event which made the world stand up and take notice of Indian cinema seriously, with the inclusion of Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan in the top 5 contenders, Indians have been waiting for that ever so elusive golden statuette to grace the Indian land.

This time, while debate is raging as to why the movie Eklavya is being sent in the race to bag the Oscar, what has caught everyone by surprise is the fact that a person who made a small movie on the making of Eklavya, himself was present in the jury which shortlisted the mentioned movie. On the other hand, with the Bombay High Court’s intervention in the scene, it was virtually a stamp of approval to the allegation that the decision was indeed biased. While those in favour of the movie Eklavya are arguing that critical acclaim was in fact showered on the movie, even though It bombed at the BO, the debate rages on about the grounds on which a movie should be shortlisted.

In the past, there was widespread anger when a superdud starring Aishwarya Rai, which went by the name of Jeans, was sent to the Oscars. The movie had failed to garner an ounce of critical or commercial success, and the very fact that the movie was so blatantly titled as if it were promoting a clothing company, was the Achilles’ heel at that time. But soon, everyone stood up and took notice when Lagaan did actually make it into the top five contenders. Next was Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s opulent drama Devdas, which rode high on it’s commercial success but lost out as the Western world was far too alien to the concept of emotions and celebrations in movies. (Haven’t we seen how each year the miserable acts and sci-fi movies sweep away the awards? Or have we forgotten that a luminary had stated not too long back that an Oscar is just a mark of who has got the best PR skills?)

While we discuss all this, it is time to debate the more important question: does it really matter if an Indian movie wins an Oscar. When America’s richest woman and globally the most loved and watched TV star Oprah Winfrey had introduced Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Rai to her country, she had stated a fact which made Bollywood a subject of curiosity worldwide, the fact that Bollywood has twice the reach of Hollywood reaching a global audience of 5 billion people. So, if that is the case and the ground reality is far better than what is a common perception, what with the recent spate of quality cinema from Indian stable, should we really care if we bag an Oscar? Readers may leave their comments below.