'Laapataa Ladies' India's Official Entry For Oscars 2025
Film Federation of India selection committee Chairman Jahnu Barua announces today that Kiran Rao-directed Laapataa Ladies will be India’s official entry for the Oscars 2025. Film will compete in the best Foreign Film category.
According to reports, 29 entries from India were considered by the Federation for the official nomination, including 12 Hindi films, 6 Tamil and 4 Malayalam films, and from these entries Laapaata Ladies was selected. The movie that was lauded for its portrayal of lives from India’s hinterland beat movies including Animal to be selected for the Oscar official entry by 13 member jury.
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Film Federation of India (FFI) Jury’s citation of the movie reads “Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance. Well-defined, powerful characters in one world a LAAPATAA LADIES (Hindi) captures this diversity perfectly, though in a semi-idyllic world and in a tongue-in-cheek way. It shows you that women can happily desire to be home makers as well as rebel and be entrepreneurially inclined. A story that can simultaneously be seen as one that needs change, and one that can bring about change. Lapataa Ladies (Hindi) is a film that can engage, entertain and make sense not just to women in India but universally as well.”
Surprisingly, this Oscar nomination of the film comes just days after Kiran Rao revealed her dream of having Laapataa Ladies at the Oscars. Prior to the nomination, the film had a special screening at the Supreme Court as a part of a gender sensitization program and was attended by several judges. Expressing her gratitude over the Oscar entry of the film, she said that she would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the selection committee and to everyone who believed in this film. It was indeed a great privilege to be selected from among such amazing Indian films this year – who are equally worthy contenders for this honour.
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Released on March 1, 2024, Laapata Ladies revolves around an incident that occurs after a marriage. The story is set in 2001 in rural India, two brides get separated on a train journey and thus a police officer Manohar investigates the missing case. The film received a standing ovation when it was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023.
Laapataa Ladies is jointly produced by Aamir Khan Productions and Kindling Pictures and presented by Jio Studios. The movie features an ensemble cast including Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, Chhaya Kadam, and Ravi Kishan in significant roles.
