Kunal Kapoor: We are all proud and excited

Kunal Kapoor in Veeram

India's official entry to the Oscars, Tamil film Visaranai, may be out of the Best Foreign Language Film race, but the country can take heart from the fact that upcoming tri-lingual film Veeram starring Kunal Kapoor is still part of the Academy Awards contest. We Will Rise, an English song from the film, is among 91 songs competing in the Original Song category.

Sung by American singer-songwriter Kari Kimmel, the track has been composed by Jeff Rona, who has earlier scored the music for several American TV series and films including Phantom, Traffic and Brotherhood. Elated by the news, Kunal told hitlist, "It's a beautiful composition. We are all proud and excited that it has been long-listed for the Oscars."

Director Jayaram tweeted, "Humbled by the happy news. Dedicating the same to all who are with Veeram."

An adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, Veeram also draws inspiration from the Vadakkan Pattukal (Northern Ballads) of North Malabarregion in Kerala and is based on Chandu Chekavar, an infamous warrior in the 13th century. The film is scheduled to release in mid-2017.

Visaranai out
On Thursday night, the Academy announced a list of nine films in the advanced category, which did not include Visaranai. Directed by Vetrimaran and produced by south star Dhanush, it has bagged three National Awards - Best Tamil Film, Best Supporting Actor (Samuthirakani), and Best Editing (TE Kishore).

Alif Surti, the film's executive producer, said, "We did our best to ensure the film was viewed widely, and the fact that we made it to the top contenders' list in both Hollywood Reporter and Variety shows the film did make an impact. But, we have to accept that the voting members preferred nine other films in a year which had an all-time record of 85 competing films. I personally feel it will get better for India now with the government supporting our films."

Inputs by Bharati Dubey