Mumbai: Laapataa Ladies, India’s official entry for the Best International Feature category at the 97th Academy Awards, has been eliminated from the Oscars race. The Hindi film, directed by Kiran Rao, failed to make it to the shortlist of 15 films announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) on Wednesday.
However, British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s Santosh, representing the UK, has secured a spot on the prestigious list. The film stars Indian actors Shahana Goswami and Sunita Rajwar and tells the story of a newly widowed housewife who inherits her late husband’s job as a police constable and becomes involved in solving a young girl’s murder.
Other films shortlisted in the category include France’s Emilia Pérez, Brazil’s I’m Still Here, Canada’s Universal Language, Denmark’s The Girl with the Needle, and Germany’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig. The category also features Touch (Iceland), Kneecap (Ireland), Vermiglio (Italy), and Dahomey (Senegal), among others.
The final nominations for the 97th Academy Awards will be announced on January 17, with winners revealed at the ceremony in March.
Laapataa Ladies premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and received critical acclaim upon its theatrical release on March 1. Backed by Kiran Rao’s Kindling Productions, Aamir Khan Productions, and Jio Studios, the film was selected as India’s Oscars entry by the Film Federation of India (FFI) from a pool of 29 films, including Animal (Bollywood), Aattam (Malayalam), and Cannes winner All We Imagine As Light.
The FFI’s selection process faced controversy when social media users criticized the jury’s citation for allegedly misinterpreting the film’s message. Despite its strong reception, Laapataa Ladies now bows out of the Oscars race, leaving Santosh as a hopeful for South Asian representation in the global awards spotlight.