India@Oscars: 'We Are Choosing The Wrong Films'

'Unfortunately, we live in a 'Mainstream Bollywood' bubble, where we cannot look beyond films that we ourselves find entertaining.'

Hansal Mehta and Grammy-winning composer Ricky Kej have slammed the Film Federation of India after Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies, India's official entry for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards, failed to make it to the Oscars shortlist.

Mehta took to X to express his disappointment: 'Film Federation of India does it again! Their strike rate and selection of films year after year is impeccable.'

'I'm sure the Academy always selects and awards some of the best in the business. This isn't just about them or these films in particular but about the ecosystem at large -- film festivals, international producers and a whole system that can take our stories wider.

'India isn't only about colonialism, poverty, oppression and exploitation. Like America doesn't have stories only about guns, racism and Trump,' Mehta adds.

Grammy winner Ricky Kej also shared his thoughts on X, calling Laapataa Ladies the 'wrong choice' to represent India at the Oscars.

'Laapataa Ladies is a very well made, entertaining movie (I enjoyed it) but was absolutely the wrong choice to represent India for the best International Feature Film category. As expected, it lost,' he posted.

'When are we going to realise... year after year... we are choosing the wrong films? There are so many excellent movies made, and we should be winning the #InternationalFeatureFilm category every year!

'Unfortunately, we live in a 'Mainstream Bollywood' bubble, where we cannot look beyond films that we ourselves find entertaining.

'Instead, we should just look for good films made by filmmakers who are uncompromising in their art... low budget or big budget... star or no star... just great artistic cinema. Below is the poster of #LaapataaLadies. I am sure most Academy voting members dismissed the film just by looking at these,' he posted.

'I reiterate. Laapataa Ladies is a good film, well made. I myself found it engaging and entertaining...handling the subject matter well. I even watched it a second time with friends. It is a film which fits well within the Indian mainstream... and there is nothing wrong with that. But the treatment, style and presentation was not something that could ever win the International Feature Film Category at the Oscars.

'The poster itself, with the retro-collage look, the doodles and the comic fonts does not show depth that is usually preferred in this category.'

In September, the Film Federation of India, led by Jahnu Barua, selected Laapataa Ladies from a list of 29 films in several Indian languages, including Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light and the National Award-winning Aattam.

While Laapataa Ladies is out of the race, Shahana Goswami-starrer Santosh, directed by British-Indian film-maker Sandhya Suri, is still in contention as the United Kingdom's official entry.

The live-action short film Anuja has also been shortlisted, giving India some hope at the Oscars.