Why was Kiran Rao's film 'Laapataa Ladies' selected for Oscars 2025? Jury member reveals reason

Soon after Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies was revealed as India's official Oscar entry in 2025, some netizens flocked to social media to argue how Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light had been 'robbed' of the opportunity, despite winning at Cannes. The 12-member jury that made this conclusion was led by Assamese director Jahnu Barua. Barua recently discussed why Kiran Rao's film was selected as the official entry. When asked why Laapataa Ladies won over the other films on the shortlist, Barua told The Indian Express, "The jury has to look for the ideal picture that represents India on all fronts. Specifically, the film must depict India's societal institutions and culture. The Indianness is quite crucial, and Laapataa Ladies scored on that."

When asked how long the deliberation process took, Barua replied, "We were in Chennai for 7-8 days, watching the 29 films that were sent to us." During this time, we had extensive discussions regarding the films. Every jury member had strong ideas, and we kept the discussion going. We were constantly discussing the films, studying them, shortlisting them, and eventually coming up with one name. The final discussion to establish a consensus took about a half-day because we were constantly talking about the films."

Indian films contention for an Oscar nomination

Ajay Devgn's Maidaan, Kartik Aaryan's Chandu Champion, Yami Gautam's Article 370, Randeep Hooda's Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, Rajkummar Rao's Srikanth, Vicky Kaushal's Sam Bahadur, and Manoj Bajpayee's Joram, Kill, and Good Luck were among the other Hindi films in contention for an Oscar nomination.

• Kiran Rao
• Laapataa Ladies
• Oscars 2025
• Best Foreign Film category