Indians turn to charity for film’s Oscar battle

Hundreds of Indian devotees have been donating money to a temple charity over the past three weeks to raise funds for a low-budget movie's Oscar publicity campaign in the United States, one of the producers said.

It is part of a nationwide drive to collect about 15 million rupees ($472,619.21) - more than twice what it cost to make the film - which the producers say they need to promote India's entry for an Oscar nomination before the shortlist is announced in January.

On Wednesday the film will be screened for the first time in Los Angeles and the money raised so far will be used for its pre-nomination screenings in theatres, print advertisements and news conferences in the United States.

Made for just 6 million rupees ($134,000), "Shwaas" ( "Breath ") is about a poor villager who shows his grandchild the world around him one last time before the child loses his sight in an operation.

"It was our dream to make this film. We struggled and pooled our resources to make it come true," said Mohan Parab, one of the eight producers.

"When the film was picked to compete for the Oscars, we didn't know where to get the money from. We had nothing in our pockets," he told Reuters in Bombay, India's film capital.

So they set up an "Oscar Film Fund" which has now raised more than half the target with donations from corporate sponsors, students, maids, hawkers and taxi-drivers.

The Film Federation of India selected "Shwaas" as the country's official entry for an Oscar nomination in the best foreign film category, but the government does not allocate funds for publicity.

Film stars marched the streets in early November in an effort to collect money, while top painter M.F. Husain plans to donate part of the proceeds of a portrait of Mother Teresa auctioned in neighbouring Pakistan on Sunday.

India's century-old film industry -- the world's biggest mainstream producer, churning over a 1,000 films in a dozen languages -- has yet to win Hollywood's highest honour for a foreign movie.

Rarely have Indian films even reached the final round of the competition. In 2002, a period Bollywood movie "Lagaan" ( "Land Tax ") lost the award to Bosnia's "No Man's Land".

Indians have now pinned their hopes on "Shwaas".

"The film is very touching and I'm praying for the film to win an Oscar," said college student Mehul Vyas, 21, after praying to an idol of the Hindu elephant-headed god Ganesh at a Bombay temple and placing money in a big charity box there.

"Shwaas" was made in Marathi, the official language in the western state of Maharashtra, of which Bombay is the capital, and has been running in the city's cinemas since its release in March.

Though no figures are available, it has been so popular that the producers plan to dub the film in Hindi, India's main language, and other regional languages later next year.

Critics say after nearly two decades "Shwaas" has been a rare success story for the small Marathi film industry, which produces about two dozen movies a year. Most are rehashed versions of popular Bollywood Hindi films and tend to flop at the box office.

"The film has finally given hope for new directors. Producers now feel confident that they can experiment with new themes," said critic Sudhir Nandgoankar.

- REUTERS