Laapataa Ladies Chosen as India’s Official Oscar Entry for Embodying ‘Indianness’: Jury Chair Emphasizes Portrayal of India’s Social Systems
The Laapataa Ladies team has made India proud as it has been selected as the nation’s official entry at the Oscars 2025. Directed by Kiran Rao, the movie starred young actors like Nitanshi Goel, Sparsh Shrivastava, and Pratibha Ranta in the lead. The comedy-drama also featured Chhaya Kadam and Ravi Kishan in crucial roles. After the announcement, jury chairman Jahnu Barua revealed that Laapataa Ladies was selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars for scoring on ‘Indianness’. Barua noted that a film has to represent India’s social systems.
In a new interview with Indian Express, Assamese filmmaker Jahnu Barua, who led the Film Federation of India jury, shared why Laapataa Ladies was picked as the official entry at the Oscars.
“The jury has to look at the right film that represents India on all fronts. Particularly, the film has to represent India’s social systems and ethos. The Indianness is very important, and Laapataa Ladies scored on that front,” Barua said.
The filmmaker continued that the “best-suited film” representing India must be sent as the official entry to the Academy Awards. Speaking about the list of 29 film titles, he added that the jury can choose from what they have been given.
The 13-member jury headed by Jahnu Barua ‘unanimously’ decided that Laapataa Ladies will represent India in the Best International Film category at the Academy Awards.
On Monday (September 23, 2024), the Film Federation of India announced that Kiran Rao and Aamir Khan’s backed film, Laapataa Ladies, has been picked as India’s official entry for the 97th Academy Awards.
Recently, after the big news, director-producer Kiran Rao took to Instagram to share a heartfelt note for Laapataa Ladies. In her post, Kiran shared that she is deeply honored and “beyond delighted” that her film has been chosen to represent India at the Oscars. She also thanked the cast and crew of Laapataa Ladies while stating that their “immense talent, dedication, and hard work made this film possible”.
The official handle of Aamir Khan Productions also acknowledged the latest achievement of Laapataa Ladies on Instagram. “Deeply honored and delighted for #LaapataaLadies to be chosen as India’s official entry to #Oscars2025,” read the post.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Laapataa Ladies was competing with Ranbir Kapoor and Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal, Karan Johar’s production Kill and Nag Ashwin’s directorial venture Kalki 2898 AD for the recent selection at the Oscars. The list also included movies like Srikanth, Chandu Champion, Maidaan, Sam Bahadur, Article 370, and many others.
The story of Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies revolves around two brides Phool and Pushpa who accidentally get swapped during a train journey. While Nitanshi Goel played the role of Phool Kumari, Sparsh Shrivastava was cast as her on-screen husband, Deepak Kumar. Pratibha Ranta essayed the character of Jaya Tripathi Singh who impersonates her identity as Pushpa Rani. Chaaya Kadam and Ravi Kishan played Manu Maai and Sub-Inspector Shyam Manohar respectively.
For the uninitiated, Laapataa Ladies was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 8, 2023. It was released in theaters in India on March 1, 2024. It was premiered on Netflix on April 26 this year. The comedy-drama is Kiran Rao’s second directorial venture in Bollywood. Rao made her directorial debut with the film, Dhobi Ghat in 2010, co-produced by Aamir Khan.
ALSO READ: Laapataa Ladies: Kiran Rao REVEALS her favorite scenes from comedy-drama ft Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta and others