Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies is India’s official entry for the 2025 Oscars under the best foreign film category. The announcement has been made by the Film Federation of India.
A 13-member jury, appointed by the FFI and chaired by filmmaker Jahnu Barua, selected the Hindi film from out of 29 nominations comprising 12 Hindi, six Tamil, four Malayalam films and seven other films. Among the other films in contention were Animal, Kill, Kalki 2898 AD (Telugu), Srikanth, Chandu Champion, Joram, Maidaan, Sam Bahadur, Article 370, National Award-winning Aattam (Malayalam) and All We Imagine As Light (which won at Cannes).
The jury’s citation for Laapataa Ladies was: “Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance. Well-defined, powerful characters in one world, a Laapataa Ladies (Hindi) captures this diversity perfectly, though in a semi-idyllic world and in a tongue-in-cheek way. It shows you that women can happily desire to be home makers as well as rebel and be entrepreneurially inclined. A story that can simultaneously be seen as one that needs change, and one that can bring about change. Laapataa Ladies (Hindi) is a film that can engage, entertain and make sense not just to women in India but universally as well.”