Tamil movie 'Visaaranai', directed by Vetrimaaran and produced by actor Dhanush's Wunderbar Films will be India's official entry in the the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars, the Film Federation of India accounced.
The selection committee of the FFI headed by Ketan Mehta announced it's decision on Thursday, adding that it was a unanimous one.
'Visaaranai' won the Best Tamil Film, Best Supporting Actor and Best Editing awards at the National Awards 2015.
The film, based on writer M. Chandrakumar's novel "Lock Up", had already received international recognition when it had its world premiere at Venice International Film Festival.
The film, which was critically acclaimed, is about the story of four migrant workers who get wrongly blamed for a crime they never committed. In the movie, migrant workers from Tamil Nadu are picked up by the police in Guntur for no crime. The workers then get entangled in a web of crime and politics, eventually to be killed in an encounter. The movie has stark similarities to the real-life events.
The movie had received appreciation from stars like Kamal and Rajinikanth, but also led to angry reactions from cops. Comments of an IAS officer who endorsed the movie was called "an outright affront on the entire police force". Former DGP Anoop Jaiswal told TOI, "Some feel that the powers of arrest given to police in cognizable offences are unbridled. But the law is clear that a police officer cannot resort to whimsical use of power. There are checks and balances and legal remedies in the system."