The Film Federation of India (FFI), a non-governmental body of producers, distributors and studio owners formed in 1951, is facing backlash over its choice of Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies as India’s official submission to the Oscars‘ best international feature category.
The selection of Laapataa from a competitive slate of 29 films came as a surprise to many who expected Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light to represent the country. Kapadia’s film made history as the first Indian title to compete at the Cannes Film Festival in three decades, and it went on to win the Grand Prix, the festival’s second-highest award. Given that last year’s Grand Prix winner, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, subsequently won the Oscar for best international feature, questions have emerged regarding the jury’s choices.
After reports that the jury saw All We Imagine as Light as “less Indian” than Laapataa Ladies, FFI president Ravi Kottarakara tells The Hollywood Reporter India, “The jury said that they were watching a European film taking place in India, not an Indian film taking place in India.”
According to Kottarakara, the “Indian-ness” of Laapataa Ladies stems from its central plot, which tells the story of two brides who accidentally swap husbands during a train ride. The two women end up switching partners when one of their husbands mistakes the other woman for his wife, thanks to the fact that both are wearing a ghoonghat, or veil, concealing their identities. (The ghoonghat is a fabric that covers a woman’s entire face, concealing her identity and, by extension, her modesty. While many view the practice as archaic, the custom is still prevalent in several parts of North India.)
All We Imagine as Light, meanwhile, tells the story of two Malayali nurses who embark on a road trip to the beach in an effort to cope with the loneliness and the alienation of living and working in the hustle and bustle of modern-day Mumbai.
Ira Bhaskar, film scholar and former dean of the School of Arts and Aesthetics at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, tells THR India that the FFI’s decision to choose Laapataa over Light due to the former’s focus on traditional Indian cultural practices is misguided. “The comment that [Laapata Ladies] is more about India because of the ghoonghat and other traditional practices is an orientalizing perspective,” she says. “I think we should not be in tune with it. To say that All We Imagine as Light feels more European or looks more European is a bizarre comment. I think films should be valued on the basis of their cinematic art.”
Adding fuel to the debate were the words in the FFI’s official statement when it announced its choice of Laapataa Ladies. “Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance,” read the first line.
Laapataa Ladies screenwriter Sneha Desai urged for a broader interpretation of the FFI’s statement after it was called out as sexist by many on social media. “I think the citation is not a clear indication of what the entire association or the jury stands for,” she told India’s largest news agency, Press Trust of India (PTI). “I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt … Yes, they could have been a little [more] careful, but I wouldn’t want to read too much into it.”
Asked about the statement, Kottarakara argues that it has been misinterpreted. “They [the jury] wanted it to be positive,” he says. “We say that women are like the Goddess Lakshmi [goddess of wealth and good fortune] and Kali [goddess of time, death and violence]. [They are] like Lakshmi, who is always blessing you, and also like Kali — they can hurt you whenever they want.”
But Shrayana Bhattacharya, author of Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India’s Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence, takes issue with the FFI’s simplistic characterization of Laapata Ladies. “The Indian power elite — be it in the media, policy, culture — can only see and frame women’s issues and the gender narrative as neat binaries,” she tells THR India. “So a woman has to be a perfect victim or a perfect hero: a champion CEO-gold medalist or a victim, a picture of heroic masculine dominance or pathetic submissive victimhood. Real life happens in between. It’s sad that a wonderful film that celebrates the messiness of gender norms and social change in India is described using the exact binary-oriented tropes — submission versus dominance — it is trying to triumph over.”
Others highlighted the FFI’s lack of diversity, with all-male members on the selection committee possibly contributing to this contentious phrasing. Filmmaker and musician Joshua Sethuraman posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Nice to see so many women in the committee! No wonder why the [statement] is against the film itself.”
Journalist and critic Namrata Joshi was less forgiving, asserting in a post on X that the “FFI’s [statement] for the Oscar pick is the weirdest reading of Laapataa Ladies. So awfully patronizing of women in general, forget Indian women alone. Written by a man suffering from superiority complex? What does ‘strange mix of submission & dominance’ even mean! Offensive!”
Beyond the controversy about the statement, prominent film critic Baradwaj Rangan pointed out that a number of practical concerns go into choosing India’s official entry to the Oscars. “Submitting a film for the Oscars is not just about the film being good but also whether the producers have the funds/desire/know-how/contacts to mount the hugely expensive Oscar(s) campaign. Laapataa Ladies is the perfect choice,” he posted on X.
While eminent production companies like Aamir Khan Productions and Yash Raj Films — International, as the Laapataa Ladies’ distributors, have the means and experience to support it in the Oscars campaign, the same is also true for All We Imagine as Light. With Spirit Media — a production company founded by actor and producer Rana Daggubati — acquiring the India distribution rights and other deals to release it in major foreign territories already in place, All We Imagine as Light is set to be one of the most widely distributed Indian independent films of the year (Janus Films and Sideshow are distributing the film in the U.S.).
“We partnered on All We Imagine as Light because we loved the story and the incredible craft that Payal, the cast and the entire team have brought to the screen,” Daggubati tells THR India. “After having won accolades and love globally, it would have been a huge honor for the film to represent India at the Oscars. We are still very committed to taking it to audiences all over the country and are looking forward to the journey ahead both in India and abroad. It’s a huge moment of celebration for Laapataa Ladies. I wish Kiran and the entire team the best on this exciting journey ahead.”
This is not the first time the FFI’s selections have sparked a controversy. In 2013, despite international acclaim for Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox, the body chose Gyan Correa’s drama The Good Road. More recently, in 2022, S. S. Rajamouli’s global hit RRR was snubbed in favor of Pan Nalin’s Chhello Show (Last Film Show).
India has been submitting films to the Academy Awards‘ best international feature film race since 1957 and has been nominated three times — for Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (1957), Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay! (1988) and Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan (2001) — but the country has never taken home the Oscar for the category.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will unveil its 2025 Oscars shortlist in several categories, including best international feature, on Dec. 17. Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 17, 2025. The 97th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 2.
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