Kiran Rao\u2019s \u201cLaapataa Ladies\u201d has been picked as India\u2019s official entry for Oscars 2025, the Film Federation of India announced here on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Hindi film, a light-hearted satire on patriarchy, was chosen from a list of 29 films, including Bollywood hit \u201cAnimal\u201d, Malayalam National Award winner \u201cAattam\u201d and Cannes winner \u201cAll We Imagine As Light\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 13-member select committee headed by Assamese director Jahnu Barua \u201cunanimously\u201d decided on \u201cLaapataa Ladies\u201d, produced by Aamir Khan and Rao, for reckoning in the best international film category at the Academy Awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides \u201cLaapataa Ladies\u201d, Hindi film \u201cSrikanth\u201d, Tamil movies \u201cVaazhai\u201d and \u201cThangalaan\u201d and Malayalam film \u201cUllozhukku\u201d were among the top five in the 29-title list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLaapataa Ladies\u201d, which was released in March to universal praise from the critics, is a heartwarming and empowering take on two brides in rural India in 2001 who accidently get swapped during a train journey. The film is backed by Rao\u2019s Kindling Productions, Aamir Khan Productions, and Jio Studios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rao said she is \u201cdeeply honored and delighted\u201d that her film will represent India at the 97th Academy Awards. \u201cCinema has always been a powerful medium to connect hearts, transcend boundaries, and ignite meaningful conversations. I hope that this film will resonate with audiences across the world, just as it has in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the selection committee and to everyone who believed in this film. It is indeed a great privilege to be selected from among such amazing Indian films this year – who are equally worthy contenders for this honor,\u201d the director said in a statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The filmmaker, who returned to direct \u201cLaapataa Ladies\u201d after a hiatus of almost 13 years, said she and her team look forward to taking the journey ahead \u201cwith great enthusiasm\u201d. Rao made her debut with \u201cDhobi Ghat\u201d, the 2010 drama centered around people from different walks of life in Mumbai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starring Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta and Sparsh Shrivastav in the lead alongside Ravi Kishan, Chhaya Kadam and Geeta Aggarwal Sharma, the Hindi film had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kishan credited Rao, Khan, his co-stars and writers for the feat.
In the film, the actor-BJP MP played the cop investigating the case of the two brides who accidentally got swapped on a train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI never thought the film would go to the Oscars. The entire world would witness Indian society, especially rural India which comprises 80 per cent of the country\u2019s population, from the Oscars stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey will see how India\u2019s daughters are moving forward. The film gives a beautiful message about how these daughters don\u2019t give up on their dreams, be it self-reliance or organic farming,\u201d Kishan told PTI in Gorakhpur as he dedicated the film to the daughters of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a twin treat in a year for Kadam, currently in Spain for a film premiere. In May, she attended the 2024 Cannes Film Festival where her film \u201cAll We Imagine As Light\u201d, directed by Payal Kapadia, became the first movie from India to win the Grand Prix award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kadam, who essayed the fan favourite Manju Maai, a fierce teaseller with a soft corner for one of the two heroines in \u201cLaapataa Ladies\u201d, said she had predicted that the film would be selected as India\u2019s official entry for the Academy Awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis happiness doesn\u2019t belong only to me, it belongs to Indian cinema. I hoped that something like this would happen and I\u2019m feeling great now that it actually happened. I had sent a message to Kiran in Marathi, saying that \u2018We will go to the Oscars\u2019. And today, when the news broke, I called her up and said, \u2018I told you so!\u2019\u201d she told PTI over phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tamil film \u201cMaharaja\u201d, Telugu titles \u201cKalki 2898 AD\u201d and \u201cHanu-Man\u201d, as well as the Hindi films \u201cSwatantraya Veer Savarkar\u201d and \u201cArticle 370\u201d were also part of the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No Indian entry has been nominated for best international feature film at the Oscars since the Khan-starrer \u201cLagaan\u201d in 2002. Only two other films have previously made it to the final five and they are the Nargis-starrer \u201cMother India\u201d and Mira Nair\u2019s \u201cSalaam Bombay!\u201d
Malayalam superhit \u201c2018: Everyone is a Hero\u201d was sent last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kiran Rao\u2019s \u201cLaapataa Ladies\u201d has been picked as India\u2019s official entry for Oscars 2025, the Film Federation of India announced here on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":446688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[688],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-446682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-infotainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}