Aamir Khan’s Laapataa Ladies Misses Oscars 2025 Shortlist, Sparks Debate on India’s Film Selection Process

Aamir Khan’s production, Laapataa Ladies, will not be part of the race for the Oscars 2025. Directed by Kiran Rao, the film was India’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category but did not make it to the next round.

So, the @TheAcademy Oscars shortlist is out. #LaapataaLadies is a very well made, entertaining movie (I enjoyed it), but was absolutely the wrong choice to represent India for the best #InternationalFeatureFilm category. As expected, it lost.
When are we going to realize.. year… pic.twitter.com/iWGpSXY1KD

— Ricky Kej (@rickykej) December 18, 2024

Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej shared his disappointment on X, saying Laapataa Ladies was not the right choice to represent India at the prestigious awards. “The Oscars shortlist is out. Laapataa Ladies is a well-made and entertaining movie, but it was the wrong pick for India in the Best International Feature Film category. As expected, it didn’t make it. When will we learn? Year after year, we select the wrong films. India makes so many excellent movies—we should be winning this category every year!” Ricky posted.

The decision is disappointing, especially since Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao worked hard to promote the film in the United States. In September, the Film Federation of India chose Laapataa Ladies from a group of 29 films as India’s official entry.

Out of 85 countries and regions eligible, only 15 films advanced to the next stage of voting in this highly competitive category. While Laapataa Ladies didn’t qualify, Santosh, a Hindi-language film from the United Kingdom, made it to the shortlist.

Ricky further criticized the selection process, saying, “We’re stuck in a ‘Mainstream Bollywood’ bubble, choosing films we find entertaining instead of great artistic cinema. It doesn’t matter if it’s a big-budget or low-budget film, or whether it has stars or not. What matters is uncompromising, great art.”