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The Kiran Rao directorial Laapataa Ladies (“Missing Women”) on Monday (September 23) became India’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards or the Oscars, to be held early next year.
Backed by veteran actor Aamir Khan’s production house, the Hindi film became critically and commercially successful following its release in March. It focuses on two newlywed women who accidentally swap places during a train ride to their respective husbands’ homes.
Rao took to Instagram to express her “heartfelt gratitude to the selection committee and to everyone who believed in the film”. She added, “It is indeed a great privilege to be selected from among such amazing Indian films this year — who are equally worthy contenders for this honour.”
The Film Federation of India (FFI) announced the film’s selection in Chennai. A total of 29 movies were under consideration, including Payal Kapadia’s Cannes winner All We Imagine As Light, Anand Ekarshi’s National Award-winning Aattam, and Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s controversial blockbuster Animal.
What is the FFI, how does it select the films for Oscars’ consideration and why has it come under criticism recently? We explain.
On its website, the FFI describes itself as the “parent body of all the leading film associations of India”, with an objective to “promote, commerce in general and in particular to promote, protect and watch over the interests of the Indian Film Industry and allied industries and trades, including the interests of producers, distributors and-exhibitors of films and of all other persons connected with the film industry.”
It also aims to “popularise the film industry and its products in India and abroad”, and appoints the 13-member jury that decides which film to send to the Academy Awards. These members are “senior qualified people” from the “creative field”, according to an earlier press release. This jury also has a chairperson — this time, it was Assamese director Jahnu Barua — whom the FFI nominates.
Further, the current jury only comprised men, leading many on social media to speculate on the “laapataa (missing)” ladies in the selection committee, and criticising the arbitrariness of the process.
The executive committee, headed by the president of the FFI (currently Ravi Kottarakara), typically “invites” filmmakers to submit their cinematic works for jury evaluation.
The submissions must fit the Academy’s eligibility rules, such as the film being at least 40 minutes long and produced outside the United States of America. More than 50% of its dialogues should be in a non-English language. It should have had at least a seven-day theatrical release between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024.
Details of the film, its crew, and other submissions, along with a payment of Rs 1.25 lakh must be made to the FFI. In a press release, the FFI wrote, “We welcome more and more films to participate in the run to get nominated as India’s entry into Oscars this year.” It added that it will “provide all the help to the producers to have a smooth, democratic and transparent nomination process”.
After all the films have been screened for the jury, the final choice is decided by a vote. Barua told The Indian Express in an earlier interview, “We were in Chennai for 7-8 days, and we were watching the 29 films that were sent to us. Throughout this period, we used to have in-depth discussions about the films.”
On the jury’s selection criteria, he said the film should represent “India’s social systems and ethos.”
In its citation, the FFI said Laapataa Ladies is a “film that can engage, entertain and make sense not just to women in India but also universally as well”.
However, the citation also attracted criticism on social media for its language and some typos. It begins with “Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance”, and goes on to say that the film “shows you that women can happily desire to be home makers as well as rebel and be entrepreneurially inclined.”
The Academy Awards invite countries to send their best films to compete for the prize. “Selection of that film shall be made by one approved organization, jury or committee, of which at least 50% must include artists and/or craftspeople from the field of motion pictures,” the Academy’s rules state.
The final nominations are determined through two rounds of voting. A preliminary committee views the eligible submissions and votes by secret ballot to produce a shortlist of 15 films. The nominating committee views those films and votes by secret ballot to determine the category’s final five nominees. Ultimately, the Academy members vote for the winner.
From India, three films have made it to the final nominations — Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay! (1988) and Lagaan (2001), all in Hindi. Last year, the Malayalam film 2018: Everyone is a Hero on the 2018 Kerala floods was India’s official entry.
