Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies (retitled Lost Ladies) failed to make it to the shortlist for the Oscars 2025 in the Best International Feature category. The shortlist was announced on December 17.
However, another film about India, featuring Indian actors, Santosh, has made it to the short list from UK.
Kiran Rao’s coming-of-age tale of two young brides in rural India separated from their husbands was chosen as the official entry for the 97th Academy Awards in September. The 13-member selection committee chaired by the Assamese filmmaker Jahnu Barua said Rao’s film perfectly captured the diversity of Indian women. (Also read: Alfonso Cuaron joins Aamir Khan in Oscar campaign for Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies)
Oscars shortlist
The films and countries that made it into the shortlist include:
Brazil, “I’m Still Here”
Canada, “Universal Language”
Czech Republic, “Waves”
Denmark, “The Girl with the Needle”
France, “Emilia Pérez”
Germany, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
Iceland, “Touch”
Ireland, “Kneecap”
Italy, “Vermiglio”
Latvia, “Flow”
Norway, “Armand”
Palestine, “From Ground Zero”
Senegal, “Dahomey”
Thailand, “How to Make Millions before Grandma Dies”
United Kingdom, “Santosh”
The jury from India’s committee chose Laapataa Ladies from 29 films across various Indian languages that were submitted, including this year’s Cannes Grand Prix winner, All We Imagine as Light, directed by Payal Kapadia. Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao have been campaigning for the film in the US for the last few weeks. Earlier this month, Alfonso Cuaron hosted the screening for the BAFTA campaign for the film.
About Laapataa Ladies
Laapataa Ladies is set in a fictitious state called Nirmal Pradesh in 2001, where two brides get swapped in a train. While one is taken home by another’s groom, the other is left stranded at a railway station. A police officer, Kishan (Ravi Kishan), takes it upon himself to probe the case. It is based on an award-winning story by Biplab Goswami.
The film has been produced by Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, and Jyoti Deshpande under the banner of Aamir Khan Productions, Kindling Pictures, and Jio Studios. The film, which was released in March, features Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta and Sparsh Shrivastav in the lead roles alongside Ravi Kishan, Chhaya Kadam and Geeta Aggarwal Sharma.
Fifteen films have been shortlisted in the Documentary Feature Film category for the 97th Academy Awards, out of 169 eligible entries. Members of the Academy’s Documentary Branch selected these films, which now move forward in the race for final nominations, set to be announced in January 2025.
The shortlisted titles are:
– “The Bibi Files”
– “Black Box Diaries”
– “Dahomey”
– “Daughters”
– “Eno”
– “Frida”
– “Hollywoodgate”
– “No Other Land”
– “Porcelain War”
– “Queendom”
– “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin”
– “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”
– “Sugarcane”
– “Union”
– “Will & Harper”
Fifteen films have been shortlisted in the Documentary Short Film category for the 97th Academy Awards, selected from 104 qualifying entries. Members of the Academy’s Documentary Branch voted to determine the shortlist, with these films now advancing to compete for a nomination.
The shortlisted titles are:
– “Chasing Roo”
– “Death by Numbers”
– “Eternal Father”
– “I Am Ready, Warden”
– “Incident”
– “Instruments of a Beating Heart”
– “Keeper”
– “Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World”
– “Once upon a Time in Ukraine”
– “The Only Girl in the Orchestra”
– “Planetwalker”
– “The Quilters”
– “Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr”
– “A Swim Lesson”
– “Until He’s Back”
