Five controversial official Oscar entries from India

Rajkummar Rao starrer Newton is getting universally good reviews and is now India's official entry to the Oscars where it will compete against other films in Best Foreign Language Film category. There have been allegations on Newton that it is copied from an Iranian film and the jury is still out on whether it deserved to be sent, but the following films certainly did not. Scroll through these movies that should not have been the first choice.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's sumptuous feast Devdas was no doubt spectacular, but Mani Ratnam's heart wrenching drama Kannathil Muthamittal starring R Madhavan and Simran would have had a better chance because of its subject, themes and performances.

In the year when Satya was released, it boggled many minds when Tamil film Jeans, a Shankar directorial, was nominated. Even now, Satya is considered as the best Ram Gopal Varma film and is also the film that acted as Manoj Bajpayee's vehicle to fame.

Similarly, Paheli was considered an odd choice for 2005 entry. Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades, also a Shah Rukh Khan starrer, was a better film in almost every way. So was Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black, which was superbly shot with great acting.

2012's Barfi released in the same year as Gangs of Wasseypur and Paan Singh Tomar. And the committee decided to go with Barfi. Gangs of Wasseypur, a rural gang war epic, and Paan Singh Tomar, a gritty Tigmanshu Dhulia directorial, were strangely ignored. Go figure.

The Good Road, a Gujarati film, was nominated over Irrfan Khan starrer Lunchbox which would have been a far better shot as it was already much acclaimed and screened to applause at various film festivals around the world. Recently, there is also buzz that there is a lot more to Oscar nomination than being a great film. From lobbying for your film through local interview in the states and constantly trying to attract attention of the jury towards one's film, there is apparently a lot more going on behind the scenes.