Indian films Laapataa Ladies Out Of Oscar 2025 Race

Kiran Rao's directorial Laapataa Ladies was selected as India's official entry in the Best International Feature category at the 97th Academy Awards. However, on December 17, it was revealed that the movie had failed to make it to the shortlist. Following the news, filmmaker Hansal Mehta and Grammy-winning singer Rickey Kej took to social media to mock the Film Federation of India.

Hansal took to his X platform late Tuesday night and shared the shortlist of the Best International Feature category at the 97th Academy Awards. He wrote sarcastically in the caption, “Film Federation of India does it again! Their strike rate and selection of films year after year is impeccable.”

Apart from him, Rickey Kej also criticised FFI and said, "So, the @TheAcademy Oscars shortlist is out. #LaapataaLadies is a very well-made, entertaining movie (I enjoyed it), but was absolutely the wrong choice to represent India for the best #InternationalFeatureFilm category. As expected, it lost."

"Unfortunately we live in a "Mainstream Bollywood" bubble, where we cannot look beyond films that we ourselves find entertaining. Instead, we should just look for good films made by filmmakers who are uncompromising in their art.. low budget or big budget.. star or no star.. just great artistic cinema," he added.

Meanwhile, fans are hoping that Cannes winner "All We Imagine As Light" will get significant recognition in Oscar 2025.