Hina Khan celebrates inclusion of ‘Country of Blind’ in Oscars list with ‘2018’, ’12th Fail’

Mumbai: Hina Khan has said that it is a huge achievement for the adventure film ‘Country of Blind’, in which she plays the lead, to be featured in the list of films accepted for voting by the Academy for Oscars 2024.

‘Country of Blind’ is one of three Indian films in contention for the Oscars nominations. The others are the Malayalam film ‘2018’ featuring Tovino Thomas and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ’12th Fail’ with Vikrant Massey playing the principal character.

As many as 265 feature films, as reported by ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, are included in the list, which is topped by celebrated films such as ‘Oppenheimer’, ‘Barbie’ and ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’, all of which have won big at the recent Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards.

Reacting to the news, Hina Khan said: “To be featured on the same list as ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Barbie’ is a huge achievement for our film ‘Country of Blind’! This is a moment of pride for the entire team of ‘Country of Blind’.”

Inclusion in the list of submissions, though, does not mean that a film has qualified even for the longlists.

But Hina Khan is pleased. “Everybody is very happy, as a lot of hard work was put into making this film into the best product that we could,” she said.

Director Rahhat Kazmi added: “This is a dream come true for the entire team of ‘Country of Blind’. To be representing India along with Hollywood’s legendary films gives us an even bigger boost. The team is ecstatic.”

‘Country of Blind’ is the story of a mountaineer who falls off 1,000 feet from a cliff and winds up in a valley that’s inhabited only by blind people.

The film, whose cast includes Hina Khan, Shoaib Nikash Shah, Anushka Sen, Namita Lal, Pradyuman Singh Mall, Inamulhaq and Jitendra Rai, was released in the US across 13 theatres in October last year.

–IANS