Tamil film 'Visaranai' is India's official entry for Oscars 2017

NEW DELHI: It's official! Tamil film director Vetrimaran's ' Visaranai' will be India's official entry in the Foreign Language film category at the Academy Awards 2017. The film, which highlights atrocities committed by the police, had earlier won three National Film awards - best feature film in Tamil, best supporting actor for Samuthirakani and best editing for Kishore Te - in India.

"'Visaranai' was selected out of the 29 films that were in the race," Film Federation of India secretary general Supran Sen said.

The crime-thriller, produced by Dhanush's Wunderbar Productions, and based on M. Chandrakumar's novel Lock Up, also got a standing ovation at the 72nd Venice Film Festival.

Featuring Dinesh Ravi, Anandhi and Aadukalam Murugadoss in the lead roles, the film deals with police brutality, corruption, and loss of innocence in the face of injustice.

"Visaaranai #Anbum #amaithiyum malarathum (Let love and peace blossom)," Dinesh tweeted in Tamil.

Visaaranai #Anbum #amaithiyum malarathum??

— Dinesh Ravi (@Dineshvcravi) September 22, 2016

The 89th Academy Awards is scheduled to take place in February 2017 at Los Angeles.


Ajay Ghosh and Dinesh in a still from the film. (Image: www.imdb.com)

The film premiered in the Orrizonti (Horizons) section of the 72nd Venice Film Festival, where it won the Amnesty International Italia Award.