In September, The Film Federation of India (FFI) has announced that Hindi movie Laapataa Ladies will be India’s official entry in the Best Foreign Film category for the Academy Award 2025.
The Kiran Rao directorial was selected from 29 films that were submitted to the FFI, which included Malayalam films Aattam and Ullozhukku, Tamil flicks Vaazhai and Thangalaan, and Hindi film Srikanth.
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Now Aamir Khan, who played a role in the production of the film, has opened up about the responsibility the film shoulders, and the entry of the story on the global stage. In an interview with Deadline, the actor said, “It is a huge reponsibility for an Indian film because you're selected from the thousand films that India makes each year. We are really happy that our film got selected as India's official entry to the Oscars. Hopefully if it get nominated, or if it wins, it really opens up the world as an auidence for the film. A lot of people who would not have heard of it would suddenly want to experience the film, and that is a huge opportunity for the film, which gets us really excited.”
Elaborating on the challenge and pressure the submission brings, Khan said, “Indians are film crazy, we love films. So there's about 1.4 billion people who are hoping that this film wins. So, fingers crossed.”
ALSO READ | 'I rejected Aamir Khan for a role in Laapataa Ladies': Kiran Rao
The last time India won big at the Oscars was when Naatu Naatu, a song featured in S. S. Rajamouli's hit Telugu film RRR, won Best Original Song at the Academy Awards in 2023, which made a path for the Jr NTR-starrer to reach a global audience. When asked if the success of RRR has increased an appetite for Indian film around the globe, the 3 Idiots actor said, “Mainstream Indian cinema has changed a lot over the last two-and-a-half decades. Indian audience has also changed and are more accepting of films that are not considered mainstream. The OTT platforms that have emerged over the years, specifically because of COVID and it created an environment where all of us were at home watching stuff, and after a point, we experimenting with films and content from other cultures and countries.”
He further added, “As a result of that, audiences, for example Indian audiences, once they were done with watching Indian content, went on to watch Korean or Japanese content. I think that has brought the world a little bit closer.”
Aamir Khan's next film Sitaare Zameen Par, which was slated for a Christmas release, has now been postponed. The film is a sequel to his directorial debut Taare Zameen Par.
