Kiran Rao’s ‘Laapataa Ladies’ has failed to qualify for the next round of the Oscar in the foreign film category. The top 15 films that have been shortlisted include France’s ‘Emilia Prez’, Denmark’s ‘The Girl with The Needle’, Sandhya Suri’s ‘Santosh’, to name a few.
However, India still holds hope with the live-action short film Anuja, produced by Guneet Monga Kapoor. The film highlights the issue of child labor in the garment industry and features actors like Nagesh Bhonsle.
Oscar Academy member Ujwal Nirgudkar expressed his excitement, saying, “I am delighted to see Anuja, a live-action short directed by Suchitra Matai, selected among 180 films in this category. Guneet Monga served as the Executive Producer for this project, which includes a stellar Indian cast. This highlights the global recognition of Indian talent.”
More films competing in the category include Touch, Kneecap, Vermiglio, Flow, Armand, From Ground Zero, Dahomey, and How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies.
Meanwhile, the Academy announced that 85 countries or regions have submitted films for the International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards. Among them is Lost Ladies (English title), a feminist drama set in rural India during the early 2000s. The screenplay and dialogues for Laapataa Ladies were penned by Sneha Desai, based on a story by Biplab Goswami, with additional dialogues by Divyanidhi Sharma.
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