We knew that not everyone would agree with the nomination, but Paheli was picked as India's entry for the 2006 Oscars. The decision was based on it being "rooted in the Indian ethos. It is a film based on the Indian language.'' (???)

However, as these awards are usually the result of many compromises, you actually never know. Besides, the Bollywood craze has after all been sweeping the globe in other ways. Perhaps there will be a succumbing to this general wave of change.

Meanwhile, a tonne of controversy has been unleashed and ugly insinuations are being made. There is even a demand to know "Why Paheli's Better than Black".

The other movies that were considered for the Oscar nomination were: "Mangal Pandey, Veer-Zaara, Iqbal, Swades, Parineeta, Page 3, Black, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Sachein (Tamil), Anniyan (Telugu), Uttarayan (Marathi), Achuvante Anna (Malayalam), Graham (Telugu), and Kadal (Tamil)."

It was good to see that at least there were no sour grapes amongst most of the other directors:
"Subhash Ghai, whose film Iqbal was also in contention, said: “Playing is more important than winning. That is what Iqbal says. I am happy Shah Rukh Khan’s film has been selected. And I wish them best of luck.’’
Madhur Bhandarkar, also among the contenders, said, “Although my film Page 3 was in the running, the jury must’ve seen that Paheli has the potential to win the Oscar.’’"

- Sumita Sheth