New Delhi: ‘Laapataa Ladies’, the critically-acclaimed Netflix film, will be India’s official entry for the 97th Academy Awards, announced by the Film Federation of India (FFI) on Monday. Kiran Rao’s coming-of-age film is about two young brides in India who are separated from their husbands and the aftermath of how they bear their circumstances.
India’s Official Entry: Laapata Ladies
‘Laapataa Ladies’ was released this March on Netflix. The film is produced by Rao’s ex-husband and actor-husband Aamir Khan and Jio Studios.
The jury chose ‘Laapata Ladies’ from 29 films across various Indian languages, inclduing this year’s Cannes Grand Prix winner, ‘All We Imagine As Light’. Payal Kapadia’s film was given a special limited release in Kerala last week to meet the FFI’s eligibility criterion for Academy submission.
Other films in competition
Among other regional films in contention included Telugu films ‘Hanu-Man, ‘Kalki 2898 AD’, the Marathi film ‘‘Gharat Ganpati’; ‘Ullozhukku’ and ‘Aadujeevitham’ in Malayalam, and ‘Thangalaan’ in Tamil.
Among the Hindi films submissions, ‘Kill’, ‘Animal’, ‘Chandu Champion, ‘Sam Bahadur’, ‘Maidaan’ and ‘Article 370’ were in contention.
“I am deeply honoured and beyond delighted that ‘Laapataa Ladies’ has been chosen as India’s official entry to the Academy Awards,” said Kiran Rao. “Cinema has always been a powerful medium to connect hearts, transcend boundaries and ignite meaningful conversations. I hope that this film will resonate with audiences across the world, just as it has in India.”
‘Laapataa Ladies’ was selected by a 13-member selction committee chaired by Assamese filmmaker Jahnu Barua who said Rao’s film perfectly captured the diversity of Indian women wh were a ‘strange mixture of submission and dominance.”
The committee said that the film has a story “that can simultaneously be seen as one that needs change, and one that can bring change.”
Meanwhile, ‘Laapataa Ladies’ stars Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, Chhaya Kadam and Ravi Kishan.
