Laapataa Ladies finds way to Oscars, is official entry for Best Foreign Film

India’s official entry to Oscars, more often than not, causes heartburn. But with Kiran Rao’s heart-warming Laapataa Ladies becoming India’s bet in the Best Foreign Film Category for Oscars 2025, the naysayers are likely to be on the same page as cine buffs.

Since its release in 2024, the film has emerged as the favourite of viewers and critics alike. In competition with big-time grossers like Animal and the much-feted ones like Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, this joyous fare, busting patriarchy, was one of the 29 films in contention.

In a unanimous vote, it was selected by the Film Federation of India’s 13-member committee, headed by Assamese director Jahnu Barua. Sceptics, however, will wonder why Kapadia’s Cannes winner was snubbed, and might link the selection to one of Laapataa Ladies producers, Jio Studios — part of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited.

Yet, one can’t take away the beauty of Rao’s second directorial film, which lies in its simplicity and felicity to drive home a message or two on women empowerment in a light-hearted manner. The film, with no big stars to boast of, earlier, was a limited box office success. But it got more attention and praise when it streamed on Netflix.

Its citation, “Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance. Well-defined, powerful characters in one world, Laapataa Ladies (Hindi) captures this diversity perfectly, though in a semi-idyllic world and in a tongue-in-cheek way,” is on point.

Set in 2001, can this socially relevant comedy, entertaining and meaningful at the same time, fetch India the elusive Oscar for the Best Foreign Film?

India’s Oscar race, even in the best of times, has been restricted to a few rays of sunshine, like in 2023, when it won two Oscars for Best Song (Naatu Naatu) and Best Documentary Short (The Elephant Whisperers). Best Film honour, even in foreign language, however, is elusive.

Much has been written about why a country that produces hundreds of films each year can’t make the Oscar cut, but there are no easy answers. Often, the reasons are convenient: not picking the better film as official entry, or not having sufficient budget to publicise the film among the voting members of the Academy.

When smaller nations like South Korea pick up the Best Film Oscar, breaking the “one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles”, as it did with Parasite in 2020, it makes it even harder to comprehend what exactly we lack.

For the moment, however, there is a reason to cheer. But, the applause can wait. The film’s real chances will emerge only after it finds a place among the prestigious final five nominees — a list in which, incidentally, Rao’s ex-husband Aamir Khan’s Lagaan, too, figured way back in 2002. Based on an award-winning story by Biplab Goswamy, Laapataa Ladies is produced by Khan, and as someone who understands the drill, he can perhaps move things this time around.