India’s official entry ‘Laapataa Ladies’ out of Oscars 2025 race

“Laapataa Ladies”, India’s official entry in the Best International Feature category at the 97th Academy Awards, is out of the Oscars race.

The Hindi film, directed by Kiran Rao, is not part of the shortlist of 15 features that will be vying for a spot in the final five, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Wednesday morning.

However, British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s “Santosh”, starring Indian actors Shahana Goswami and Sunita Rajwar, representing the UK, has made it to shortlist that also includes France’s “Emilia Pérez”, “I’m Still Here” (Brazil), “Universal Language” (Canada), “Waves” (Czech Republic), “The Girl with the Needle” (Denmark), and “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” from Germany.

The other contenders are “Touch” (Iceland), “Kneecap” (Ireland), “Vermiglio” (Italy), “Flow” (Latvia), “Armand” (Norway), “From Ground Zero” (Palestine), “Dahomey” (Senegal), and “How to Make Millions before Grandma Dies” (Thailand).

According to the Academy, 85 countries or regions had submitted films that were eligible for consideration in the International Feature Film category for the 97th Academy Awards.
Titled “Lost Ladies” in English, the film is a gently subversive feminist drama which is set in rural India in the early 2000s. Sneha wrote the screenplay and dialogues of “Laapataa Ladies”, based on a story by Biplab. Divyanidhi Sharma penned additional dialogues.

“Laapataa Ladies” follows two brides who get swapped on the day of their wedding during a train ride. It stars Nitanshi Goel and Pratibha Ranta as the brides Phool and Jaya, respectively, with Sparsh Shrivastav playing the hapless groom in search of his wife.
The film, which had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, released in theatres on March 1 to great reviews. It is backed by Rao’s Kindling Productions, Aamir Khan Productions, and Jyoti Deshpande of Jio Studios.