QUESTION: (Asking for a friend) Should India have already won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language/International Film?

ANSWER: The films that would be the best contenders at the Oscars are never the ones selected and submitted from India.

CASE IN POINT: SHIP OF THESEUS (2012) and THE LUNCHBOX (2013) were nowhere to be found. NO! Slumdog Millionaire is not an Indian film (production), and let’s not argue about it…LOL.

REASONS: Politics at play, popularity contest and bias in India and also from the Oscar “committee.”

It’s about who knows and favors who. Understanding what the Academy’s “committee” is looking for. Having the right distribution channels to garner a specific publicity campaign. Making sure the “committee” considers a film they have never heard of….in another language.

CAVEAT LECTOR: India doesn’t need the stamp of approval from the Oscars for any validation of its prolific film industry.

But personally, for the country that has made some of the best films I’ve ever seen, I would love to see India finally get the Oscar nod for Best Foreign Language/International Film. That’s just me….

A film that could also be a good Oscar submission from India is: IS LOVE ENOUGH? SIR (2018) directed by Rohena Gera.

Ashwin, played by Vivek Gomber, is an NRI (Non Resident Indian) from a well-to-do family, who returns to Mumbai from New York to marry his fiancé. However, he ends up alone with his maid in a luxury apartment throughout the film. Vivek Gomber gives a portrayal that…how can I put this….

…You know that one desi you meet on campus during university days that does not act as though he has a stick up his a*s. That guy who is least bothered by do’s and don’ts or who you are and what you do because he is comfortable enough in his own skin, which reflects in how he relates to everyone around him. Yeah, “that guy”.

That is the type of nuanced performance that Vivek brings to life in playing Ashwin. The type of “hero” we should see more often in films. If you know “that guy” to which I refer, you will understand the frowned upon and unacceptable dynamic that plays out between Ashwin and the maid in the arena of master and servant.

“Are you sleeping with your maid?”, asks Ashwin’s father.

Tillotama Shome plays, actually becomes Ratna, the maid in question. A woman from the village whose education and aspirations of being a fashion designer is halted by a short lived marriage. Ratna, one of the ever present yet never seen maids and servants outside of the acceptable class and stature required to be properly acknowledged by anyone who is anyone in Mumbai.

The skilled performances of Shome, Gomber and the directorial prowess of Rohena Gera with a neatly woven script; gives us two people in the shielded setting of a Mumbai apartment building. Two people. Not just master and servant, but people. Ratna and Ashwin. Two people and the possibility of love.

“No, but I am in love with her,” is Ashwin’s response to his father’s question.

However shielded they may be, the social stigma of the outside world is pervasive and asks the question, is love enough?. So pervasive and sometimes weaponized are the social norms of society that it refuses to reconcile with Ratna’s soul. So much so she dares not venture outside to be seen in even an amicable relationship with her employer. Inside the flat and inside Ashwin’s mind they can just be people, but to Ratna and the outside world they are master and servant.

Ratna doesn’t have a ticket back to New York to escape from that reality. India and the village is her world. So, she makes her own choice in answering the question for herself: Is love enough?. However, that choice was already made for her even before she met Ashwin. Even before she left her village for Mumbai. Even before birth, maybe.

Tillotama’s portrayal of Ratna deserves the Padma Shri recognition. Her depiction of a member of society rarely seen as a lead in a feature film stands out magnificently. Her performance could have requested from us our pity. It does not. It could have been a cliche of subservience. It is not. Through Shome, we, the audience, must acknowledge Ratna. Acknowledge her we must, because, despite the circumstances of fate, Ratna acknowledges herself through her dignity. A dignity that could have been abandoned at pivotal points in the film, yet remained intact. True to self. Unexploitative.

***SPOILER ALERT***Ashwin’s dad replies, “In that case, it’s good that you are leaving.”

I selected the three lines of dialogue between Ashwin and his father because it made me think a bit. I thought to myself, how eager would the father be for his prized son to leave if Ashwin had stated that he was only sleeping with Ratna, as opposed to being in love with her. Is love NOT enough? Sir.

Is being a maid not enough to be loved. To be seen. To be heard.

IS LOVE ENOUGH? SIR had its festival debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018. It is currently streaming on the Netflix platform as of January 2021.

As for the Oscars, could IS LOVE ENOUGH? SIR have been a submission for Best Foreign Language/International film?….Well, let’s see if it could get pass the “committee” hurdle of not foreign language enough due to a few lines of English. As in the case with Deepa Mehta’s FUNNY BOY (2020). #CinepicksTME