‘Newton’ is ‘original work’, makers ready to pitch for Oscars

Nagpur: The news of Hindi film 'Newton' as India's entry at the Oscar in the foreign film category was received with joy at the office of Drishyam Films, which has produced it, on Friday.

"It's been a double whammy for us as the announcement was made on the day of its release," Rakesh Totla, the Nagpur-based chartered accountant and director of Drishyam Films, told TOI. The news spread widely and all evening shows were reportedly running full.

Reacting to the social media posts that Newton is a rip-off of Iranian film 'Secret Ballot', Totla says, " 'Newton' is a totally original work set in the backdrop of 2014 general elections. It may look similar but is definitely not based or inspired by any other film."

'Newton' which belongs to the dark comedy genre and tells the story of an idealist in a less-than ideal world, has already received much critical acclaim at international film festivals. "It was highly appreciated when we showed it at Berlin and Hong Kong this year," says Totla.

The news of the announcement had the twitter buzzing. While Amitabh Bachchan said the film is an "eye opener in many respects and its stark reality was a treat to watch", Akshay Kumar said "can imagine the joy of the production house on the film being selected for Oscar nominations" and Shah Rukh Khan wrote "a special film with my friend Rajkumar Rao & made by a team of my friends Colour Yellow".

Buoyed with the Rs1 crore grant given by the government to promote the film, the team at Drishyam is now creating a winning strategy. "Previously we lacked the muscle power for this sort of a campaign but now we have Eros distributing the film," Totla says.

"When the poster of 'Newton' was released, Anand L Rai (the director of Tanu Weds Manu) wanted to be on board. So now we have his expertise too," added Totla.

Terming the title as an iconic word, Totla says, "Director Amit Masurkar has structured it around Newton's three laws of motion -- the film begins with inertia, sets into momentum in the middle act and ends with an equal and opposite reaction."

The film speaks of the dilemmas of an upright self-righteous government employee entrusted with the task of conducting polls in a naxalite-infested area. "We shot the film in and around the mining town of Dalli Rajhara in Chhattisgarh, on the fringes of the Maoist-controlled jungle as Amit wanted the local setting of forests and water bodies. He also wanted to use the local Gondi language for a realistic look," says Totla.

Saying that the film has enough substance to stand the competition, Totla adds, "Every dialogue in the film pulls a punch and is supported by quality performances by talented actors."

The production house has carved a niche for itself by making critically acclaimed films. "The policy of our founder Manish Mundra has been to go for content-based stories which are contemporary and relevant," he says.

The policy has paid off as every film produced by them like 'Masan', which was about urban taboos, 'Ankhon Dekhi', which spoke of conflict between two brothers, 'Wanted', which was about the wait of two women whose spouses had gone into a comma, and 'Dhanak', which was the story about malnutrition and its effect, have all gone on to win national and international awards.