Rakeysh Mehra's Rang De Basanti has been selected by the Film Federation Of India asIndia's official entry to the foreign language category of the Academy Awards.

A jury member said they voted on Mehra's film about youthawakening because "we felt that Rang De Basanti is more Indian and talks about today's youth as wellas the youth of the freedom struggle."

The last Indian film to make the Oscar best foreign filmcut was Lagaan (2002) whose iconic starAamir Khan is also the lead in Rang De Basanti.

UTV's Ronnie Screwvala, who produced the film, said:"We shall now make a combined plan for the Golden Globes, Academy Awardsand BAFTAs." The film was backed and distributed by UTV and has so fargrossed in excess of $27m worldwide.

Ironically, another Hindi language film, Deepa Mehta's Water, is Canada's entry for the same Oscar category.

Rang De Basanti alsostars Atul Kulkarni, Sharman Joshi, Soha Ali Khan, Kunal Kapoor and Siddharth.