Looks like some filmmakers were not impressed with India's official entry for Oscars 2021 'Laapataa Ladies'. After Ricky Kej and Hansal Mehta, 'Udaan' fame Vikramaditya Motwane expressed his disappointment at Kiran Rao's film as Film Federation's first choice for entry at Oscars. For those unaware, 'Laapataa Ladies' was disqualified recently from the Best Foreign Feature Film category. Motwane, in a recent interview with Bollywood Hungama, spoke about how 'All We Imagine As Light' would have been a better choice.
Why Vikramaditya Motwane thinks Laapataa Ladies was not the best choice for Oscars?
When Motwane was asked why he did not think 'Laapataa Ladies' was the best fit for India's official entry to Oscars 2024, the 'Jubilee' filmmaker said, "Depends on what you want. If you want to win an Oscar, then may be not. I mean, the fact that All We Imagine As Light went on to win Grand Prix at Cannes. In that moment of time, you're saying it's the second-best film of the year. It’s massive.”
Motwane on Film Federation of India' decision
Vikramaditya Motwane slammed FFI for rejecting 'All We Imagine As Light' as India's official entry to Oscars 2024, when it considered the film to be a European film. The acclaimed-filmmaker said, "Film federation of India, I don't understand what is the logic of these 13 men (members). They said that they did not select All We Imagine as Light as it is a European Film. It's not an Indian film. I mean what defines Indian anymore. I feel personally it is incorrect. I think there's diversity which must be celebrated, and the same thing applies to movies as well."
He further added that 'All We Imagine As Light' 'stopped pretty much every single critic, all around the world' and so it was a 'no-brainer' that the Payal Kapadia film was better-suited for the selection. He also recalled how 'The Lunchbox' was also snubbed previously.
Recently, after 'Laapataa Ladies' failed to make the cut to Oscars 2025 list, the Film Federation of India was slammed on social media for selecting it as India's official entry. On the other hand, the Federation's jury head stated, "The jury felt that the films which have gone to the Oscars in the last few years lacked Indian-ness. A film needs to represent the nation. We felt that Laapataa Ladies had all the right elements, and presented the social chaos we go through brilliantly. The jury felt that her (Payal Kapadia's) film was very poor technically."
Vikramaditya Motwane work front
Motwane is all set to being his upcoming series 'Black Warrant' o Netflix in January 2024. The series will star Shashi Kapoor's grandson Zahan Kapoor as a jailer trying to survive in India's 'most unforgiving jail'.