The criticism of India's entry for the Oscars, Eklavya, The Royal Guard has just got sharper. Bhavna Talwar, the director of Dharm, which lost out in the race, issued a legal notice to the Film Federation of India and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, alleging favouritism in the selection process.

Talwar has alleged that favoritism was at play and the selection was biased due to the strong affiliation between members of the committee and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the director of Eklavya. It names director Sudhir Mishra, one of the committee members as being very close to Chopra. The jury was headed by filmmaker Vinod Pande and included director Anil Sharma, cinematographer Nadeem Khan, lyricist Jalees Sherwani. Eklavya edged out Dharm by six votes to five. According to Talwar, Mishra was lobbying for the film even before the screenings started. Pande admits that the race was close. Though Dharm won people's hearts, there were other factors that played their part too. It may not be a unanimous decision but it adhered to the norms of democracy, he said.