New Delhi (Sputnik): “The Last Color”, starring Neena Gupta in the main role, is an Indian feature film produced and directed by Indian-American Chef Vikas Khanna. The film addresses an age-old taboo surrounding widows in Vrindavan and Varanasi, both religious cities in northern Uttar Pradesh in India.

The film has made it onto the list of feature films eligible for the Oscars, due to be held in February 2020. Calling it a "miracle of belief", Khanna took to social media to share a picture of the official Oscars list and expressed how happy he was.

“The Miracle of Belief”, he captioned alongside the image, adding, “The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscar) has announced the list of feature films eligible for the 2019 Academy Awards. And "'he Last Color' is in the contention for Oscar 2019 BEST PICTURE. Link in the bio.....What a way to start the year".

Even Neena couldn’t believe it and said, she was very happy.

Cant believe am soooo happy https://t.co/ApRiYTMcBn — Neena Gupta (@Neenagupta001) January 1, 2020

According to Variety, every year, before announcing the final nominations, the Academy Awards releases a list of films that are eligible to be in the Oscars race. To be eligible, the films must open in a commercial motion picture theatre in Los Angeles County by 31 December and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days.

“The Last Color”, which was premiered and applauded at the 30th Palm Springs International Film Festival in the USA, has not had a theatrical release in India yet.

The film's story revolves around a nine-year old tightrope walker who promises to add colour to the life of one such widow. The film was adapted from Khanna’s book of the same name.

Thousands of widows from India’s eastern state of West Bengal end up in the religious cities of Varanasi and Mathura, as it was believed that widows were inauspicious and ostracised from their home villages. In some cases, they were thrown out by their husbands’ families to deny them the inheritance of properties. Thousands of such widows end up in religious centres in Mathura and Varanasi and spend recluse lives praying to Hindu deities.

Neena Gupta, who won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a young widow in "Woh Chokri", has also made appearances in several international films, such as "Gandhi" (1982), "The Deceivers" (1988), "Mirza Ghalib" (1989), and "Cotton Mary" (1999).