DID PRABHAS MISS A 2021 OSCAR ENTRY MOVIE? RENOWNED DIRECTOR OPENS UP!

While the film has been Canada's pick for Oscars 2021, it has come under criticism for not having Tamil actors on board. However, in an interview to The Wire, director Deepa Mehta has said that she tried her best to get actors from the Southern film industry on board.

"We approached [R.] Madhavan. He said he did not want to play a father. Siddharth Suryanarayan I really wanted. Sid had broken his shoulder so he could not do it. The person I thought would be really good was the guy who played the king in Baahubali [Prabhas]. He didn’t answer any of my calls, so that was that," she was quoted as saying.

"There is this wonderful actor Sendhil Ramamurthy [American actor]. We had long conversations. [But] this is a small Canadian film, and we could not afford it. I also found two really fine Sri Lankan-Tamil actors in Toronto. One is a refugee and to get a visa and go to Sri Lanka to act would have jeopardised his [situation]. There is another [actor] I loved, Suthan, to whom I gave the role, in fact. His father was not well. Six months later, when we were given the permissions, I went back to him and he said he had just got married," she further continued.