Film Paheli, directed by Amol Palekar, starring Rani Mukherjee and Shah Rukh Khan has been selected in the foreign film category at the Oscars.

Paheli beat 14 other films including Swades, Veer-Zaara, Black, Parineeta, Page 3, Iqbal, Mangal Pandey and Marathi film Uttarayan for the nomination.

The actor-director Amol Palekar expressed happiness that his film ‘Paheli’ will represent India at the Oscars. “I’m happy at the nomination of the film for the Oscars”.

A 10-member jury, headed by noted filmmaker Vinod Pandey, made the selection after weeklong deliberations, secretary of the Film Federation of India Supran Sena said. The film was produced by actor Shah Rukh Khan.

Palekar said, “It was our sincerity, our commitment and faith in what we were doing. We made it as we wanted to make it and it took us 47 days to complete.”

“The film has a tremendous star cast and the film won’t have been what it is without their commitment,” he added. Asked whether he expected this kind of recognition, the director said “We never made the story with any returns in mind”.

The film’s Assistant Director and dialogue writer Sandhya Gokhale said they were “overwhelmed” at the news. “We believed in the strength of the story and the narration, we were confident of what we were doing. Besides Amol is a meticulous film maker.”