Laapataa Ladies Oscars 2025: On Monday, 23rd September, the Film Federation of India announced that Kiran Rao’s light-hearted film Laapataa has been selected as India’s official entry for Oscars 2025.
Laapataa Ladies is an Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film, released on 1st March 2024 in the theatres. The movie was directed by Kiran Rao. It was produced by Kiran Rao, Aamir Khan, and Jyoti Deshpande. The movie stars Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, Chhaya Kadam, and Ravi Kishan. The storyline of the movie revolves around two young newly-wed brides who accidentally get swapped during a train journey. This film explores the theme of women's empowerment.
This film was initially screened at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on 8th September 2023. After this, the film got released in the theatres on 1st March 2024. This film was also nominated as the Indian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards.
A committee of 13 members headed by Assamese director Jahnu Barua, considered Laapataa Ladies in the best international film category at the Academy Awards.
The list also included Tamil film Maharaja, Telugu films Kalki 2898 AD and Hanu-Man along with Hindi films Swatantraya Veer Savarkar and Article 370.
Director Kiran Rao expressed her gratitude to the committee. She said, “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 honour.”
Previously, in an interview, Laapataa Ladies’ director Kiran Rao said, “My dream would be fulfilled if it was if it would go. But it's a process, and I'm hoping it'll be considered. I'm sure the best film will go, whoever they choose in the scheme of things.”
Before the release of the film in theaters, Kiran had said, “Our primary recognition comes from the audience's response at the box office. If the viewers and the nation appreciate our work, that would be the greatest accolade for us. There is a specific community tasked with assessing and selecting the finest films of the year, and if our film is deemed worthy, we will submit it for the prestigious Oscars. However, for now, we are eagerly anticipating the recognition we are yet to receive on 1st March 2024.”