The Gujarati film Chhello Show, called Last Film show in English, is India’s official entry for the 95th Oscars, the Film Federation of India announced on Tuesday. 

The film, directed by award-winning director Pan Nalin is a coming-of-age drama about a young boy’s love affair with cinema. Chhello Show follows 9-year-old Samay in the village of Chalala who bribes his way into movie theatres by bribing the cinema projector technician and watches several movies over the course of the summer. The director has stated that the film is based off of his own memories of falling in love with cinema as a child in rural Gujarat.

Who is Pan Nalin?

Nalin Kumar Pandya, often known as Pan Nalin is an Indian filmmaker born in the village of Adtala in the Amreli district of Gujarat. Until he was 12, the to-be filmmaker worked with his father to sell tea on a railway platform at the Khijadiya Junction Railway Station. 

Soon after, he left his family to pursue filmmaking, gaining admission at the University of Baroda where he studied Fine Arts for a year. He then attended the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad for a year studying design. 

While Nalin began his career as a production assistant in Mumbai in the early 1990s, he found his break in the form of his documentary, Sacred Courtesan Devadasi, and his short film, Khajuraho, which were being showcased in Paris. Shortly after, he directed his first film, Samsara, with famous German film producer Karl Baumgartner. 

Following the success of Samsara, he went on to produce Valley of Flowers in 2006. The film won many awards and nominations. Nalin’s next film came in 2013, a documentary called Faith Connections, which revolved around the Kumbh Mela.

In 2014, he made the hit Angry Indian Goddesses, India’s first female buddy film. The film received numerous awards. It won the Audience Choice Award First-Runner-up at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and the  Audience Award at the Rome Film Festival. 

He wrote, directed and produced Chhello Show in 2021, which featured at the Tribeca Film Festival, winning the Audience Award First Runner-Up. It is India’s official selection for the 95th Oscars.