Chhello Show director Pan Nalin says ‘move on’ after being out of Oscars race: ‘Neither our last film nor our last show’

After Chhello Show, The Last Film Show was snubbed at the Oscar 2023 nominations, filmmaker Pan Nalin penned a note about moving on. He congratulated the final nominations from India and thanked fans. The Last Film Show was shortlisted in the Best International Feature Film category, but did not make it to the final nominations announced on Tuesday. Also read: Oscars 2023 full list of nominations

Pan Nalin tweeted, “Hey my Last Film Show family, Let’s rejoice and move on. (After all, we are in company of Park Chan-wook and Inarritu!) And as a team you have been absolutely amazing. You stood by our story through the storms, with all hearts -and no hype. That you continue to deeply move souls across the world. Because when we made Last Film Show we all knew, it will neither be our last film nor our last show.”

The Gujarati film, Chhello Show was India’s entry for the Oscars last year, beating SS Rajamouli’s RRR. The film is based on a young Gujarati boy and how he falls in love with cinema. Mesmerised by light, and its ability to tell stories, the boy wants to do nothing but watch movies all day, and it gets him in trouble with his father and even the local police. He is branded a thief with a bunch of his friends but his love for movies is beyond anything.

Pan Nalin also congratulated the RRR team and others, who made it to the nominations and added, “Congratulations to the trio of Indian nominees All That Breathes, The Elephant Whisperers and Naatu Naatu song.”

RRR song Naatu Naatu made it to the Best Original Song. Apart from this, All That Breathes and The Elephant Whisperers have also been shortlisted in the Best Documentary and Best Documentary Short categories, respectively.

Not only The Last Film Show, but several films from India, which were eligible for the Oscars nomination, didn’t make the cut. It was a list of 301 films from around the world, which were eligible for the Oscars. It included Alia Bhatt-starrer Gangubai Kathiawadi, Rishab Shetty’s Kannada film Kantara and pan Nalin’s Chhello Show (Last Film Show). Marathi films Me Vasantrao and Tujhya Sathi Kahi Hi, R Madhavan’s Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, Iravin Nizhal and Kannada movie Vikrant Rona were also on the list. Documentaries like All That Breathes by Shaunak Sen and Kartiki Gonsalves’ The Elephant Whisperers were too on the same list.

Pan Nalin is best known for directing critically-acclaimed films Samsara, Valley of Flowers and Angry Indian Goddesses.