Oscars 2025: FFI lampooned for ‘Laapataa Ladies’ debacle as India misses out yet again

Controversy surrounds India's Oscar submission as critics question Film Federation of India's choices in international feature category.

Once again, the Film Federation of India (FFI) finds itself in the crosshairs of national ire. The recent announcement of the 15 films shortlisted for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2025 Oscars sparked outrage (yet again) among cinephiles, critics, and filmmakers in India when Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies failed to make the cut. 

In the aftermath of last night’s announcement, sharp online smears have since rained down on the FFI, with the likes of Hansal Mehta and Ricky Kej leading the charge, accusing the body of consistently poor judgment in its Oscar selections. For most, the unsurprising omission feels emblematic of a systemic malaise in how India positions itself on the global cinematic stage.

A charming satire about two brides swapped in rural India during the 1990s, Laapataa Ladies earned praise for its refreshing wit, but as the Grammy-winning Kej bluntly pointed out, it was “absolutely the wrong choice” for an Oscar campaign. 

Comparisons with Payal Kapadia’s Cannes-winning All We Imagine As Light (AWIAL) — the film many saw as India’s natural contender for the international feature race — have only sharpened the sting. Kapadia’s ode to Mumbai’s working class, has not only earned multiple accolades already but also secured nominations at important precursors like the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards. Its Cannes triumph, where it won the Grand Prize, further solidified its status as a critical darling early on in the race.

By contrast, Laapataa Ladies felt to many like a charming but lightweight entry in a category increasingly dominated by stories that cut to the bone. The comparison underscores a longstanding criticism of the Film Federation of India: its baffling preference for crowd-pleasing films over deeply cinematic, uncompromising works that might have stood a fighting chance at the Academy Awards.

This of course isn’t the first time India has bungled its Oscar bid. India’s fraught history with the Oscars reads like a tragicomic saga of missed opportunities and institutional hubris. Over the decades, the nation’s official submissions have sparked more controversies than celebrations, often mired in allegations of political bias, myopic selection committees, and an unshakable obsession with Bollywood glitz. 

Despite the country’s vast cinematic output, only three films — Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay! (1988), and Lagaan (2001) — have ever managed to secure nominations in the International Feature Film category, with none clinching the coveted statuette. Meanwhile, works such as Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox or Chaitanya Tamhane’s The Disciple, were famously overlooked in favor of more populist fare, prompting widespread backlash.