2018 director Jude Anthany Joseph thought Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani would be India's Oscar entry

Filmmaker Karan Johar's directorial comeback Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani was touted to be one of the frontrunners to be India's official entry for the Oscars. Director Jude Anthany Joseph also believed the same after reading some news reports. However, the jury's unexpected decision came as a surprise when they chose Jude's film 2018 Everyone is a Hero to represent the nation at the prestigious awards.

Jude revealed that he came to know about this honour when the media outlets began reaching out to him for his response to this development. He believes that this nomination gave the much-needed recognition that his movie had lacked during its initial theatrical release earlier in the year.

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Jude seems to be very committed to running a strong Oscar campaign for the movie. He revealed that the producers of 2018 already have an office in Los Angeles, which he believes will facilitate the promotional efforts.

"My mind tells me that even without lobbying, we will bring the Oscar home," Jude told Rediff.com.

2018 created box office history

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2018 was released in cinemas on May 5 this year without much fanfare. The filmmakers didn't even get a wide release in Kerala even though the movie was inspired by the 2018 floods that devastated the state. However, glowing reviews from the critics and terrific word-of-mouth from the audiences helped the movie to overcome the obstacles at the box office.

2018 soon began to shatter the box office records of previous blockbusters. In less than four weeks, the movie managed to earn Rs 200 crore in its global box office receipts, making it the biggest ever earner in the history of Malayalam cinema.

"We have already earned Rs 200 crore-plus, over Rs 175 crore coming from the theatres alone," Jude said while adding that the movie was made on a modest budget of Rs 26 crore.