Director Payal Kapadia’s film All We Imagine As Light (AWIAL has been creating a rage owing to its screening at the Mumbai Film Festival right now, and earlier when the Malayalam-language Indo-French production, won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Despite the film being seen as a potential Oscar contender, India selected Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies as the country’s official entry for the 2025 Oscars. This decision stirred some debate given the competition, which included Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal, Kartik Aaryan’s Chandu Champion, Prabhas’s Kalki 2898 AD, the National Award-winning Aattam from Malayalam cinema, and other notable films like Shrikanth starring Rajkummar Rao and Sam Bahadur with Vicky Kaushal.
In a recent interview, Payal expressed her contentment with the decision. Speaking to Bombay Times, she mentioned she is happy that Laapataa Ladies has been chosen as India’s official Oscar entry and how it is a wonderful film, She also said that as a viewer, she thoroughly enjoyed it and was also a fan of Kiran Rao’s earlier work, Dhobhi Ghat.
For the uninitiated, Laapataa Ladies, co-produced by Aamir Khan, follows the story of two newlywed brides. The film, which features Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, and Ravi Kishan in key roles, gained attention for its unique plot.
Kiran Rao shared in an interview with PTI that the story idea originated from Aamir Khan, who came across the concept while judging a screenwriting contest. The film’s plot centers on two women who accidentally get swapped during a train journey. Rao was intrigued by the concept and saw it as a chance to explore something different as a filmmaker.
Rao also mentioned that it would be a dream come true for Laapataa Ladies to make it to the Oscars but acknowledged the competitive process involved, expressing confidence that the best film would be chosen regardless.