Mumbai, Sept. 19 -- The team of 'Gondhal' is gearing up for the next phase of its Oscar journey, with the film's director saying the team had been preparing for the possibility of making an international awards push for nearly a year.

Speaking to ANI about the film's selection as India's official entry, director-producer Santosh Davakhar said the team had always been confident in the product they had created.

"We were confident that the entire Gondhal team had made a good product. For the last year, we have been preparing for this. We were going to attempt the Oscars one way or the other," he said.

He described being chosen as India's official entry as a "great blessing" and said the selection also brought a significant responsibility ...