Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies film Indian nominee for 97th Oscar Awards

The Hindi comedy film ‘Laapataa Ladies’, produced by Amir Khan and Kiran Rao and directed by Kiran Rao, has been chosen to be India’s official entry for the International Feature Film Category at the 97th Academy Awards 2025 (popularly known as the Oscars). 

The international Feature film category is for the country-selected feature film.

The 97th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on 2nd March 2025 in Los Angeles, United States of America.

Last year, the superhit Malayalam film “ 2018: Everyone's a Hero” was India’s official entry for the 96th Oscar Award 2024.

Selection Committee of the Film Federation of India 

The Hindi film Laapataa Ladies was chosen by a 13-member jury of the Film Federation of India, headed by renowned Assamese Director Jahnu Barua. 

The committee reviewed 30 films nominated to represent India at the 97th Oscar Awards.  Some of the films that were considered were Hanuman, Kalki 2898 AD, Aattam, All We Imagine As Light, Vaazhai, Thangalaan, Chandu Champion, Sam Bahadur, Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, Maidaan, and Joram.

About the film Laapataa Ladies 

The film is about two young brides who get switched to their husbands’ homes during a train journey. The film is a satire on India's patriarchal system and focuses on promoting gender equality and women's empowerment in rural India. The film stars Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, Chhaya Kadam, and Ravi Kishan, among others, in key roles.

Indian films nominated for Oscar Award 

57 Indian films including Laapataa Ladies, have been nominated for the 'International Feature Film Category at the Oscars. Mehboob Khan's directed film Mother India was the first  Indian film to be nominated for an Oscar in 1957.

Only three Indian films, Mother India (1958), Salaam Bombay (1989), and Lagaaan (2001), have made the final list of Oscar nominees. 

None of the Indian films has won the Best International Feature Film category award at the Oscars.

Oscar Awards won by Indians 

To date,  10 Indians have won Oscar awards, with  Bhanu Athaiya being the first to win the award in 1982 for best costume design category for the film Gandhi. A.R.Rahman has won the Oscar awards twice.

Academy Award or Oscar Award 

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, was instituted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is based in California, United States of America.

The Oscar Award is considered the most prestigious award in the world of cinema.

The first award was presented in 1929.