For the first time in his career of playing the lead roles, Yogi Babu has seen his movie 'Mandela' making its entry into the shortlist listed films for the Oscar Awards. Mandela and Malayalam film 'Nayattu' are among the 14 movies shortlisted for India's entry to the Academy Awards. 

According to reports, prominent film-maker Shaji N Karun will be leading the jury which will be selecting the film that will be nominated for India under the category of Best International Feature Film. Yogi Babu's 'Mandela' is the only Tamil movie on the list of 14 shortlisted movies. Besides Mandela and Nayattu, some of the movies made on the list include Vicky Kaushal's 'Sardar Udham' and Vidya Balan's 'Sherni'. According to reports, the jury is comprised of 15 members and they will be finalizing one movie out of 14 and that one movie would be sent as India's entry for the Academy Awards. 

Mandela is a Tamil language political satire comedy-drama movie that was released on the Star Vijay channel on April 4, 2021, and later on Netflix. The movie is written and directed by Madonne Ashwin and while Yogi Babu plays the lead role, Sheela Rajkumar, Sangili Murugan, GM Sundar, and George Maryan had played important roles. The movie had received a significant reception and pouring more milestones for Yogi Babu's career, Mandela has now made it into the club of shortlisted movies for the Academy Awards.

While Bharath Sankar had composed the music, Mandela is bankrolled by Y Not Studios in association with Open Window Productions. On the other hand, the Malayalam movie  'Nayattu' directed by Martin Prakkat was released earlier this year. Joju George, Nimisha Sajayan, and Kunchacko Boban had played important roles and besides earning flak for its take on caste, Nayattu has garnered good attention at the time for its storyline and impressive acting from the actors. 

It has been reported that the jury will make the final selection soon and if Mandela makes it into the Oscars as India's official entry, it will be a phenomenal achievement both for Yogi Babu and for Kollywood. The Academy Awards will be held in March 2022 in the United States to honour excellence in the American and International film industry. Yogi Babu has been busy with a pile of projects including Vijay's 'Beast', Ajith's 'Valimai', Sivakarthikeyan's 'Ayalaan', and Vishal's 'Veerame Vaagai Soodum'. Lastly, Yogi Babu was seen in Sundar C's directorial 'Aranmanai 3', which was released last week.