‘All We Imagine as Light’ Was Snubbed by India’s Oscar Committee in Favor of ‘Laapataa Ladies’
Each year, as fall approaches, India’s Oscar committee picks its candidate in what has become a politically dramatic process.
The influential body behind the committee, the Film Federation of India (FFI), brought together a special jury of industry vets to sift through the year’s offerings to choose the one film that will represent India.
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But while the country boasts the world’s most prolific film industry, its track record in the international feature film race has fallen short with missed opportunities.
The most notorious example is Ritesh Batra’s “The Lunchbox” which was not selected in 2013 despite having earned widespread critical laurels.
This year’s choice, Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies (“Lost Ladies”)–despite being an acclaimed film that had a successful box-office run-in India–could be considered disappointing.
That’s because All We Imagine as Light broke a 30-year Cannes competition lack for India, went on to win the Grand Jury Prize and elevated Payal Kapadia from documentarian to celebrated director.
Kapadia became the first Indian woman filmmaker to win the Grand Prize at Cannes and the film is in the process of being one of the most widely distributed Indian films of all time. Deals are in place for the U.S., U.K. and France — the three countries with the highest numbers of Academy voters.
The selection of the movie as India’s Oscar candidate appeared to be a shoo-in, especially after it made the French Oscar shortlist. Ultimately, the French committee chose Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez, leaving “All We Imagine as Light” up for grabs by India’s committee.
The FFI said: “Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance. Well-defined, powerful characters in one world, ‘Laapataa Ladies’ (Hindi) captures this diversity perfectly, though in a semi-idyllic world and in a tongue-in-cheek way. It shows you that women can happily desire to be homemakers as well as rebel and be entrepreneurially inclined. A story that can simultaneously be seen as one that needs change, and one that can bring about change.”
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