Rural Folk: Tale from to take part at Oscars

A BOLLYWOOD love story based on a rural Indian folk tale, starring top actor Shah Rukh Khan will represent India at the Oscars next year, film selectors said.

"Paheli" (Riddle), in which Khan plays the role of a lover who is actually a ghost, has been selected by the Film Federation of India to represent the country at the Oscars in the foreign films category.

"The film represents Indian ethos and we found it to be the right candidate to represent India at the Oscars," said Vinod Pandey, acting federation chairman.

More than a dozen films were in the race for Oscar representation, including two others starring Khan -- "Veer-Zaara", a love story involving a Pakistani girl and an Indian air force pilot, and "Swadesh" (Homeland).

Other movies that had been short-listed included popular actor Aamir Khan's "The Rising", Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan's "Black" and "Iqbal", a story of a deaf and dumb boy who goes on to become a cricketer.

"Paheli" is produced by the actor himself at a cost of 140 million rupees (3.2 million dollars) and directed by eight-times national film award winner Amol Palekar. It tells the story of a woman abandoned by her money-mad fiance on their wedding day.

A ghost who has fallen in love with her takes on the husband's appearance and romances the unknowing bride, played by the popular Rani Mukherjee.

But the husband returns five years later, throwing the situation into confusion.

Khan is the undisputed superstar of Bollywood, India's prolific Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai, previously known as Bombay. He maintains the movie is also about women's liberation.

"Paheli" failed at the box office when released earlier this year.

No Indian movie has ever won an Oscar. In 2001 "Lagaan" (Tax) was among the final five nominees in the foreign films category but lost out to "No Man's Land".●