NEW DELHI: Though the Marathi film Court by Chaitnya Tamhane has been selected as the official entry for the Best Foreign language film category race in the Academy Awards, south Indian director Kishan Srikkanth’s film Care of Foothpath 2 (Kill them Young) in Kannada starring Esha Deol has made a ‘lateral’ entry.

Srikkanth is known as the boy who features in the Guinness book of records for being the youngest director of a feature film at the age of nine years.

The movie is an action film, based on the story of four slum teenagers who are believed to be criminals. Srikkanth spent two years researching juvenile crime for the movie. 

Explaining the ‘lateral’ entry, Srikkanth says that he wants the film to compete in that category so that he can seek awards for technicians and actors, like Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor in a leading role, Best Adaptive Screenplay etc. under the guidelines of Academy Awards.

The film also fulfils intricate technical specifications with regard to the quality of sound, picture, and such other parameters, which they adhered to while shooting the movie. The Academy loves films, which have unique scripts and different and follow high creative standards.

Srikkanth said, “We are thankful to Esha. We approached her for the challenging role of an advocate, who specialises in juvenile crime. She absolutely loved the concept and came onboard. She was so supportive. The film is a sequel to my 2006 film, which deals with juvenile delinquency. We got in touch with the Academy a year and half ago who explained to us that besides our creative script, the strict standards and technical specifications.”

“The film has to be released in the US with all publicity in the mainstream media and get it reviewed and rated. We would be releasing the film in October in Los Angeles, and have earmarked a budget for the same,” he added.

Besides Deol, the film also stars well known TV artiste Avika Gor. Srikkanth hopes that with his film, the flood gates will open for Indian made films in the mainstream category for the Academy Awards.