On Monday, the film fraternity in India celebrated as Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies was selected as India’s official entry for the 2025 Academy Awards. The film now hopes to compete for the Best International Feature Film prize with films from around the world. However, confusion set on Tuesday as film producer Sandeep Singh announced on social media that his Randeep Hooda-starrer Swatantrya Veer Savarkar had been submitted for the Oscars. The headline proclaiming it as India’s official entry, added to the confusion.

Which film is India’s official entry for the Oscars?

Contrary to popular perception, the government of India (meaning the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) has no role to play in the selection of India’s official entry for the Oscars. The process is conducted by an independent body called the Film Federation of India (FFI). The body has been entrusted with this responsibility for decades. Every country can send one film as their official entry for the next year’s Oscars and as per the FFI release, it is Laapataa Ladies. The Kiran Rao-directorial will now hope to appear in the long list, which will be released later this year, followed by the final nominations in January.

Then how is Swatantrya Veer Savarkar submitted for the Oscars?

Swatantrya Veer Savarkar may well have been submitted for the Oscars as well. However, not as India’s ‘official’ entry. The producer Sandeep Singh’s claim that it was ‘officially’ submitted for the Oscars led to the confusion. On top of that, Singh thanked the FFI and jury president Jahnu Barua, which led many to think it was indeed selected by the FFI. However, in an interaction with HT City, FFI President Ravi Kottakara clarified, “They (the makers of Savarkar) have given some wrong communication. I am going to release a statement about it as well. Only Laapataa Ladies has been sent for Oscars from India officially.”

Wait, one country can have two films at the Oscars?

So one might ask how can both the films be submitted for Oscars if the Academy allows only one from each country. The explanation is that there can only be one ‘official’ entry from each country but filmmakers can submit their films as independent entries as well. This is exactly what had happened in 2022 swhen Gujarati film Chello Show (Last Film Show) was India’s official entry but SS Rajamouli’s blockbuster RRR had been submitted independently, as had been Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi.

All about the contenders

Laapataa Ladies is directed by Kiran Rao and stars newcomers Sparsh Srivastava, Pratibha Ranta, and Nitanshi Goel. The dramedy about two ‘lost’ brides in 90s rural India was a commercial failure but received acclaim critically. Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, on the other hand, stars Randeep Hooda as the activist and thinker VD Savarkar. Directed by Hooda himself, the film released to mixed reviews and did not set the cash registers ringing.

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