It is time of the year to peg all our hopes on that one film that might finally break the long-standing wait to see an Indian film win an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. At an event in Chennai, members of The Film Federation of India, the apex body responsible for selecting the official entry for the Best Foreign Film Category at the 97th Academy Awards, announced Laapataa Ladies as India’s official entry to the Academy Awards. The film was directed by Kiran Rao and produced by Aamir Khan, Laapataa Ladies chronicled the story of two young newlywed brides, who get exchanged during a train ride to their husband’s homes. The film starred Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Srivastava and Nitanshi Goel.
Among the 29 films entered this year by the makers were Hanu-Man, Kalki 2898 AD, Animal, Chandu Champion, Sam Bahadur, Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, Good Luck, Gharat Ganpati, Maidaan, Joram, Kottukaali, Jama, Article 370, Aattam, Aadujeevitham, and All We Imagine As Light. Thangalaan, Vaazhai, Ullozhukku and Srikanth, besides Laapataa Ladies, made to top five films as per the jury.
The jury members were introduced to the media by Ravi Kottarakara, President, Film Federation of India. Filmmaker Jahnu Barua was the chairman of the jury.
ALSO READ: How to win an Oscar: Guneet Monga details networking, money, extensive PR that goes into mounting an Academy Award campaign
Last year’s entry was Jude Anthany Joseph’s film, 2018, which didn’t make it to the shortlist of the 96th Academy Awards. However, India had a better run in the 95th edition as the Naatu Naatu song, from SS Rajamouli’s RRR, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Kartiki Gonzalves and Guneet Monga’s documentary, The Elephant Whisperers, won in the category of Best Documentary (Short). We also had Shaunak Sen’s All that Breathes make it to the final list of Best Documentary Feature.
ALSO READ: Cannes-winner All We Imagine As Light to release in Kerala on September 21
The last Indian feature film to make it to the final shortlist was Aamir Khan-Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan (2001), which lost to No Man’s Land in the 74th Academy Awards.
In her review of Laapataa Ladies, Indian Express’Shubhra Gupta wrote, “The proverbial daughter-sister-wife-mother sobriquet forces women to be faceless, whether they wear a ‘ghoonghat’ or not. I have memories of women in my family, especially the new ‘dulhans’, hidden neatly away inside their veils; this pernicious ‘tradition’ is still alive and kicking. Come hither, those who want lessons in patriarchy 101, and see how the ladies of the house, back in the day, learned how to work their way around it: faces completely covered in front of the ‘sasur’ and the ‘jeth’ (the older men), and lifted a little, when it comes to the ‘devar’, the younger brothers and male cousins of the husband. In this constant pull-and-push, women learned to ‘adjust’ and live a little.”
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
