Suriya's Soorarai Pottru is one of the 366 films that are eligible for the 2020 Best Picture Oscar Award

Suriya and Aparna Balamurali-starrer Soorarai Pottru is on the list of movies that are eligible for the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Thursday that 366 feature films are in contention for the 2020 Best Picture Oscar Award.

The compilation also included Soorarai Pottru, starring Suriya and Aparna Balamurali, making it the only Indian movie to be included in this year’s Oscars nominations.

India’s official entry for the Academy Awards 2021 had been Malayalam movie Jallikattu. However, the film did not make it to the shortlist for the Awards.

Soorarai Pottru was earlier submitted to the Academy Award Screening Room through a paid admission for screening under the General category for multiple awards, including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Story-writer, Best Original Score, and others.

Now, voting will take place between March 5 and 10 for all the movies submitted, and the final nominations will be announced on March 15.

Directed by Sudha Kongara, Soorarai Pottru was produced by Suriya and is based on the real-life story of Captain Gopinath, founder of low-cost airline Air Deccan. GV Prakash composed the music for this movie.

It can be noted that the rules for nominations in the Oscars were modified this year in view of the challenges that the film industry faced across the globe due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of these changes included the nomination of movies released on OTT platforms.

The 93rd Academy Awards is scheduled to be held on April 25, 2021, which is eight weeks later than the original date for the ceremony. Speculations arose that this year’s award ceremony might be a virtual event due to the ongoing pandemic. However, a representative for the Academy Awards stated that the ceremony will be an “in-person telecast”.