India, Sept. 18 -- With his Marathi film Gondhal selected as India's official entry to the Oscars this year, filmmaker Santosh Davakhar is soaking in this "proud moment" for his entire team and family. "It's a really proud feeling. It's the effort of my whole Gondhal team and great support from my family. It's amazing to epresent your country at an international level. It feels like I am going to the Olympics," he tells HT City exclusively.

The filmmaker says the idea behind Gondhal came from his experiences at international film festivals, particularly Cannes. He continues, "I decided to make this film according to international taste. I wanted it to compete at that level. When I had been to festivals like Cannes, I found that the perce...