‘Newton’ out of Oscars 2018 race

“Newton”, India’s official entry in the Best Foreign Language category at the 90th Academy Awards, is out of the Oscars race.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAAS) has announced that the Amit Masurkar-directed black comedy is not a part of the nine-film line-up which have advanced to the next round of voting.

The nine films are — “A Fantastic Woman” (Chile), “In the Fade” (Germany), “On Body and Soul” (Hungary), “Foxtrot” (Israel), “The Insult” (Lebanon), “Loveless” (Russia), Felicite (Senegal), “The Wound” (South Africa) and “The Square” (Sweden).

Newton released to great reviews in September. Film critic Saibal Chatterjee rated it four stars and praised the Rajkummar Rao’s performance. He wrote: “Rajkummar Rao is perfect as the eponymous Everyman who lets no doubt get in the way of his mission.”