There's more than that meets the eye as far as Peepli [Live]'s exclusion from the National Awards is concerned.

When the awards were announced, it seemed like the country's official entry to the Oscars was specifically ignored. Digging around, we found the film wasn't even entered for the nominations!

Could it have been an oversight (highly unlikely, considering how particular Aamir Khan is) or did he decide to ban the National Awards (like he does other popular awards)?

The film's director Anusha Rizvi says she is clueless why the film was not entered. "I heard it, too. And I have absolutely no idea why the film wasn't entered.

I want to clarify that the directorate and the jury members of the National Awards have been unfairly targetted."

She adds, "What can they do if the film was not entered by the production house? It was never submitted. I was not consulted about it. I got to know about it after the National Awards was announced.

I am also disappointed for all the people involved.

They have worked very hard on the film. The directorate and the jury members have all expressed concern over it and said they stand by the film. But, what can we do? These decisions solely rest with the producer."

In the past

In 1996, the producers of Khamoshi simply forgot to enter the film for the National Awards. The jury that year was very keen on giving Manisha Koirala an award for her performance, but couldn't because of the faux pas by the producers.