India's official entry at the Academy Awards was deemed technically weak; currently undergoing a face-lift

Technically too shoddy to make the grade with other contenders, India's official entry to the Oscars the Malayalam film Adimante Makan Abu - is currently undergoing a makeover. A group of top-notch technicians have come together to revamp it free of cost.

The movie, which won four major National Awards this year, was seen to be strong in content but weak in technique.

Says a source, "We felt Adimante Makan Abu has strong chances of getting the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. The story of an old Muslim couple struggling to make the Haj pilgrimage, has a universal resonance.

Year after year we keep missing out on the Oscar shortlist because our entries lag behind technically. So we felt the need to enhance the technical quality of the film substantially."

The film was made on a shoestring budget. So short is the project of funds that apparently there is no money to promote the film at the Oscars, let alone upgrade the product technically.

Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty who is working on the project currently, says, "I am re-designing and re-mixing the sound for the film, so it would stand a better chance of making it into the final list after the Oscar submission.

I am adding more sounds, and re-designing the entire soundscape and re-mixing the music in surround sound with the thematic aspect of the movie." Will the efforts bear fruit? We will have to wait and watch.