Banned in India, but Oscar front-runner, "India's Daughter" gets Meryl Streep support

Hollywood star Meryl Streep lobbying to get Oscar for India's daughter  (related video below)

October 17, 2015, NewsCrunch

Hollywood actress Meryl Streep has thrown her weight behind India's Daughter, a documentary on Delhi rape victim Nirbhaya, which is already seen as a front-runner to grab an Oscar next  year.

India's Daughter, which chronicles the rape and murder of Nirbhaya, has been banned in India.
Streep, a women's rights activist, said in New York on Friday that she was on a "campaign" to get India's Daughter nominated in the category of best documentary. She said when she first saw the film, she could not speak for sometime.

The documentary, produced by BBC and directed by film-maker Leslee Udwin, has been described by the Modi government as " a conspiracy to defame India".

The documentary has also been blocked on video sites such as YouTube in the country, though many have viewed it using proxy servers.

The government ban and a chance to highlight the issue of women's safety that may prompt the Oscar jury to give India's daughter a serious consideration.

The documentary controversially  interviewed one of the rapists, Mukesh Singh, who blamed Nirbhaya ofr going out in the evening with a male friend. A decent girl would not have roamed at nine o'clock at night, he had claimed.

Leslee Udwin director of India's Daughter speaks at a TedX event