India’s Oscar dream crashes as Laapataa Ladies out of race; Hansal Mehta, Ricky Kej express disappointment: ‘FFI does it again’

Film Federation of India does it again! Their strike rate and selection of films year after year is impeccable. pic.twitter.com/hiwmatzDbW

— Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) December 17, 2024

Hansal took to X 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.”

Several X users echoed Hansal’s stance, with one commenting, “Indian films Laapata!” Another wrote, “AWIAL will forever be a whatif,” referring to Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light. A third user recalled how Shekhar Kapur’s crime drama Bandit Queen and Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox weren’t picked by the FFI as India’s official Oscars entries either.

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.
When are we going to realize.. year… pic.twitter.com/iWGpSXY1KD

— Ricky Kej (@rickykej) December 18, 2024

Grammy Award-winning composer Ricky Kej also took to his X handle and shared a couple of Laapataa Ladies posters. He wrote a long note in the caption: “#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.”

Kej further added, “When are we going to realize.. year after year.. we are choosing the wrong films. There are so many excellent movies made, and we should be winning the #InternationalFeatureFilm category every year.”

He concluded by saying, “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 film-makers who are uncompromising in their art.. low budget or big budget.. star or no star.. just great artistic cinema. Below is the poster of #LaapataaLadies, I am sure most academy voting members dismissed the film just by looking at these.”

The shortlist of 15 features includes films from France, Brazil, Canada, and the UK, among others. British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s Santosh, starring actors Shahana Goswami and Sunita Rajwar, representing the UK, has made it to the list.

The final Oscar nominations will be announced on January 17. In September, the FFI unanimously chose Laapataa Ladies as India’s official entry to the Oscars from a list of 29 films, including Bollywood hit, the Ranbir Kapoor starrer Animal, Malayalam National Award winner Aattam, and Cannes winner All We Imagine As Light. The selection of Laapataa Ladies had sparked controversy, with many believing that All We Imagine As Light was a stronger contender. The film’s failure to make the cut has only added to the frustration, with many questioning the FFI’s selection process. All We Imagine As Light, meanwhile, has made it to Golden Globes as a nominee in Best Director and Best Film categories.