NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Laapataa Ladies, India’s official entry for the Best International Feature category at the 97th Academy Awards, has not made it to the Oscars race. The Hindi film, directed by Kiran Rao, was excluded from the shortlist of 15 films announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) on Wednesday morning.
The selection of Laapataa Ladies had come from a pool of 29 films across various Indian languages, including the Cannes Grand Prix-winning All We Imagine as Light by Payal Kapadia. Set in the fictional state of Nirmal Pradesh in 2001, the film tells the story of two brides who are accidentally swapped during a train journey following their marriages.
Despite the exclusion of Laapataa Ladies, British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s Santosh, which stars Indian actors Shahana Goswami and Sunita Rajwar and represents the United Kingdom, has secured a spot on the prestigious shortlist. Other films on the shortlist include Emilia Pérez from France, I’m Still Here from Brazil, Universal Language from Canada, Waves from the Czech Republic, The Girl with the Needle from Denmark, and The Seed of the Sacred Fig from Germany.
