Hanuman Ansh has turned into a surprise box office success, holding its ground despite competition from films like Mirzapur The Movie , Haiwaan and Toxic . The film has steadily picked up through strong word of mouth and continues to attract audiences in theatres. However, Hanuman Ansh will not be India’s official Oscar entry this year. Producer Namrata Singh has now explained why the team missed the submission deadline.
Hanuman Ansh is a spiritual drama inspired by the life and teachings of Neem Karoli Baba, popularly known as Maharaj-ji. Directed by Vishal Chaturvedi, the film traces his journey from a young man seeking Lord Ram to becoming a spiritual figure whose message of faith, seva and unconditional love reached people around the world. Shobhinaw Satyaa plays Neem Karoli Baba, while Vihaan Shedge portrays his younger years. The cast also includes Chandan Anand, Purnima Tiwari, Anil Rastogi, Gulshan Pandey and Rajiv Mishra.
We missed the Oscar submission deadline [for consideration as India’s official entry for Best International Feature Film] yesterday (September 7), as it was the last day. Hanuman Ansh had a rather slow start at the box office, collecting just ₹ 10 lakh on its opening day. The film earned only ₹ 1.48 crore net in its first two weeks, but things changed once positive word of mouth began to spread. From Day 16 onwards, the film saw a sharp jump in collections and started pulling in bigger numbers. The film has yet to release overseas, so its worldwide gross, for now, remains the same as its domestic gross – ₹ 205 crore. This makes the film the smallest Indian film to earn ₹ 200 crore worldwide.
We are also working on accessibility so that people of different abilities can see the film,” Namrata further continued. Speaking to Bollywood Hungama, Singh was asked if Hanuman Ansh would be dubbed in languages apart from Telugu. The producer then opened up about why the film was not submitted for consideration as India’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the Oscars. “We have only dubbed it in Telugu. I am just not getting the time (laughs)! We got calls from a thousand people about why didn’t we submit the film. But we didn’t know about it. We are busy with too many things. For now, the team is focusing on taking the film to audiences in more languages. They are also looking at making the film more accessible to viewers with different needs. “First, we have done dubbing for Telugu and then work on the rest of the languages. The film continued its strong run through the following weeks, setting new records in its third, fourth and fifth weeks.
She simply said, “No. The team was not aware of the submission process and ended up missing the deadline, according to her. Also, we are a really small team,” the producer said. Singh said the Telugu version was completed first, with work on other languages still underway.
