It's a question of answers. Of quality versus quantity. What will work better for Lagaan in its attempt to seek Oscar glory in the Best Foreign Film category? More people attending the screening or a select few voting members getting to watch the film?

It seems, Sony Classic Pictures has settled for the latter strategy to get its numbers right. But before that, a brief backgrounder on how the voting for the Best Foreign Film category takes place.

Any Academy member who wants to vote in the Best Foreign Film category needs to see all five nominated films. Then, the films in question can't be viewed on a cassette and have to be seen on the big screen only.

These rules came into effect in 1956 to ensure that movies that don't have US distribution deals, involving millions of dollars in promotion, don't start with a handicap in the race.

This year the Academy, organised two screenings each for every foreign language film in Los Angeles and one each in New York, San Francisco and London. But studios backing various films go out of their way to organise more screenings for voting members.

So, while United Artist is organising 12 additional screenings of No Man's Land, Miramax is doing four additional ones for Amelie. In contrast, Lagaan has just two screenings.

In a world of cut-throat competition where every vote counts (and a vote is not counted if the member has not seen all five nominations), the lobby working for Lagaan is out to ensure that voting members in favour of the film actually get to see it.

As for the logic behind the decision, if a member makes up his mind to vote for Amelie but somehow misses out on the two screenings of Lagaan, his vote will be invalid.

The lesser the number of screenings, the better. Will this strategy work for Lagaan? While March 25 holds all the answers, it must be said that it's not how you gather votes but how many you gather that counts. Yes, a few good men could make all the difference to Lagaan's Oscar fortunes.