Eklavya's selection has provoked a war of words that's been in turn ugly and bizarre and could even derail any entry at all into the Oscars this year.

Shai Venkatraman trues to cut through the maze of charges and countercharges to get to the heart of Bollywood Oscar politics.

Who would have thought that this nondescript office would become the centre of a raging storm?

A 11-member jury is appointed by the Film Federation every year which meets to choose India's entry to the Oscars.

The office is now being questioned for biased selection.

There are two stages of selecting India's Oscar entry. First the constituent groups of the Film Federation are asked to send in their nominations.

Then the jury members shortlist films. The final selection is made by the ballot. The process seems democratic and fair. But then what goes wrong year after year?

Some say the problem starts with the Film Federation itself.

The 34 film organizations that it is comprised of are mainly trade bodies. The FFI heads often-big distributors and producers.

So when they choose films obviously commercial interests dominate. Same goes for their choice of the jury.

Take this year's jury for instance:

Chairman Vinod Pande is a B-Grade filmmaker who has made films like Red Swastika and Sins. Ravi Kottarkara is a financier from Chennai.

Shahid Amir designed costumes for Just Married and Kya Cool Hain Hum.

Director Anil Sharma is a known name from the Deol stable. But his jingoistic films like Gadar have little cinematic value.

Veteran lyricist Ravi of Chaudavi Ka Chaand fame is out of circulation for a while now. As is Nadeem Khan cinematographer of the 80s hit Disco Dancer.

Towering over them is critically-acclaimed Sudheer Misha whose last release Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi was a strong contender for the Oscar entry in 2005. But his inclusion seems almost an afterthought.

''Our jury comprises of professionals from the Bombay commecial film industry who like to select their kind of cinema, and project that abroad. The problem is their representation is skewed. They do not represent films across the country,'' said Nandini Ramnath, Film Critic.

It's exactly this kind of shoddy jury selection that lends itself to what has now become an annual controversy.

Like this recent spat over Eklavya where the jury has been dragged to court as one of them Editor Ranjit Bahadur was part of the Eklavya production. A film that was finally chosen out of 11 entries.

''Who took the call on who the members of the jury were when they were taken on? Were they made to sign a letter that they were not directly associated with anyone? Is there any accountability?,'' said Bhavna Talwar, Director, Dharm.

Vinod Pande obviously feels defensive about his credentials being questioned.

''I am not ashamed of my last film Red Swastik. It's a regular commercial film,'' said Vinod Pande, Chairman of the Jury, 2007. But it is not just 2007.

Last year when Rang De Basanti was chosen Director-Producer Harmesh Malhotra was chief of jury.

His claim to fame Nagin and Aakhinyon Se Goli Mare. So why was he chairing the jury?

In 2005 when Paheli was sent Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi was the hands down choice according to many.

This year Black Friday was a strong contender. But the film wasn't even considered.