The film has been selected from all India nominations of 12 Hindi films, 6 Tamil and 4 Malayalam films. The jury has been led by 13 members this year. The film was contending alongside 29 film including names such as Animal, Kill, Kalki 2898 AD, Srikanth, Chandu Champion, Joram, Maidaan, Sam Bahadur, Article 370, the Malayalam film Aattam, which won the National Award for Best Feature Film this year and Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light, a Cannes winner.
Laapataa Ladies is directed by Kiran Rao and produced by Kiran Rao, Aamir Khan, Jyoti Deshpande. The film had a fresh bunch of faces. Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastav, Chhaya Kadam, Ravi Kishan featured in the film.
Laapataa Ladies is based on an award-winning story by Biplab Goswami. The screenplay and dialogue are written by Sneha Desai, while Divyanidhi Sharma has taken care of the additional dialogues. Laapataa Ladies had a screening at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last year.
The film was released in theatres in India on March 1. The film has been applauded by critics and audiences alike. Despite not minting a whopping amount of money at the box office, the film garnered a new fanbase after it was released on the streaming giant Netflix.
Earlier this month, Kiran Rao shared a snippet from the film on social media and she captioned it, "Laapataa Ladies will be found in Japan from October 4, 2024. We are so excited for our theatrical release in Japan by Shochiku, Japan - arigato gozaimasu."
The film is a take against the patriarchal shackles which tend to bind women's aspirations and dreams within the four walls of domesticity.
Here are some of the reactions to India's Oscar entry:
An X user said, "The Indian Oscar jury has continued its stupidity streak and selected Laapataa Ladies for Oscars instead of Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine as Light. Given her history with the government, this was probably expected. What the f*** even."
Another tweeted, "I loved Laapataa Ladies and believe it's a supremely well-made film. But sending it to the Oscars as India's official entry is like handing a batter a Player-of-the-Match Award when you have proof a bowler - Cannes Grand Prix-winner All We Imagine As Light - won you the game."
LOL, this year India had a cannes grand prix winner in All we imagine as light and India chose this. FFI never fails to disappoint. https://t.co/eWm2ngGQdk
— Rick Sulgie (@Aloydinkan) September 23, 2024
An Incompetent Body
Someone also said, "All We Imagine as Light is the winner of Grand Prix at Cannes 2024 --- last year's winner of the award won the Best International Feature at the Oscar's (the Zone of Interest). An incompetent body made up of people illiterate about cinema and who want to manifest their biases." Another said, "LOL (laughing out loud), this year India had a Cannes Grand Prix winner in All we imagine as light and India chose this. FFI never fails to disappoint."
An X user also said, "Looks like the Film Federation of India saved the government's face by avoiding All We Imagine as Light as India's Oscar entry. The Cannes Grand Prix was an awkward moment for the govt having to congratulate director Payal Kapadia against whom its fighting a case." Some X users were amused by the Film Federation of India's official announcement. A part of the jury's citation on Laapataa Ladies, India's official entry to Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film Category 2025 read, "Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance."
Reacting to this, an X user said, "'Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance' is a crazy opening for a jury citation." Someone else said, "I mean, they could have at least spelt jury correctly." Another X user said, "That citation. Idk (I don't know) whether to laugh or cry..."
India's Official Entry for the 2024-25 Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film Category at the 97th Academy Awards (Oscars 2025) is " Laapataa Ladies (Hindi)" pic.twitter.com/Gm0B7fidF2
— Nikil Murukan (@onlynikil) September 23, 2024
Kiran Rao's Reaction The filmmaker said she is 'deeply honored and delighted' that her film will represent India at the 97th Academy Awards. "Cinema 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. I 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," Kiran said in a statement.
