Despite its strong run in theatres, ‘Hanuman Ansh’ will not be in the race to represent India in the Best International Feature Film category at the Oscars this year. However, producer Namrata Singh has clarified that the film was neither rejected nor deliberately kept out of consideration, with the team simply missing the submission deadline.Speaking about the development in a recent interview, Namrata explained that the team has been juggling several responsibilities, from preparing the film for release in different languages and working on accessibility to travelling for promotional commitments. With a small team handling the film, she said they have been taking up these tasks one at a time.Namrata said in an interview with Bollywood Hungama, “We missed the Oscar submission deadline [for consideration as India’s official entry for Best International Feature Film] yesterday (September 7), as it was the last day. We got calls from a thousand people ki aap ne film submit nahin ki (You didn’t submit the film). But we didn’t know about it. We are busy with too many things. Also, we are a really small team.”According to Namrata, the immediate priority has been taking ‘Hanuman Ansh’ to audiences beyond its Hindi release instead of attempting to manage every aspect of the film’s campaign simultaneously. She said, “First, we have done dubbing for Telugu and then work on the rest of the languages. We are also working on accessibility so that people of different abilities can see the film. The artists and director are on tour. There’s hardly anyone in the office.”The Telugu version of ‘Hanuman Ansh’ is scheduled to hit theatres on September 18. Filmmaker Trivikram Srinivas is associated with the Telugu version, which was announced on September 11, marking the Mahasamadhi Day of Neem Karoli Baba.For now, Telugu is the only dubbed version ready for release, while the team plans to work on versions in other languages subsequently.Written and directed by Vishal Chaturvedi, ‘Hanuman Ansh’ arrived in theatres on August 7. Shobhinaw Satyaa plays Neem Karoli Baba, with Chandan K Anand, Nikhil Dubey, Anil Rastogi, Sugandha Malhotra and Bhagvandas Patel also featuring in the film.The story follows Lakshmi Narayan, a young boy living in pre-Independence India, who leaves home following his mother’s death in search of God. His journey through northern India eventually leads him towards becoming Neem Karoli Baba.Meanwhile, ‘Hanuman Ansh’ has maintained its momentum at the box office. As per Sacnilk, the film collected a domestic nett of Rs 0.94 crore from 1,259 shows on Day 38, taking its total India nett collection to Rs 194.07 crore and its India gross to Rs 229.26 crore. The film continued to stay ahead of new release ‘Haiwaan’ and the holdover ‘Mirzapur: The Movie’ on the daily box office charts.Producer Ragini Sona has also dismissed reports claiming that ‘Hanuman Ansh’ has secured a Rs 100 crore OTT deal. She termed the reports rumours, maintaining that the film is still running successfully in theatres.Earlier, director-producer Dr Vishal Chaturvedi had revealed that an OTT rejection played a role in his decision to take ‘Hanuman Ansh’ to cinemas. He recalled pitching the story to a streaming platform, where he was asked whether he had an Indian story with international relevance. The rejection, he said, only strengthened his determination to make the film.Following the film’s sleeper-hit success, Chaturvedi also questioned why the story of Neem Karoli Baba had not been explored by Hindi cinema earlier.
