'Sensible choice'—Payal Kapadia backs 'Laapataa Ladies' as India's Oscars pick
Filmmaker Payal Kapadia has expressed happiness over Kiran Rao's film Laapataa Ladies being selected as India's official entry for the 2025 Oscars. This comes after Kapadia's widely acclaimed film, All We Imagine As Light, won the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival but was defeated by Laapataa Ladies in the race for the Oscars. However, Kapadia is still optimistic and rooting for Laapataa Ladies.
'I really like Laapataa Ladies...': Kapadia
In a chat with Hindustan Times, Kapadia said, "It's okay. Like, that's part of life. And actually, I really like Laapataa Ladies." "I already got a lot from this film. I took a long time to make it. I didn't have any private money to make it...I've only looked at grants, collecting money and taking five years to make it." "The fact that the film got made, it got shown at this really big festival (Cannes) has been a lot."
Kapadia's views on Oscar lobbying
Kapadia emphasized the need for power and money to mount an Oscar campaign. "That matters in the Oscar race, so in a way, it's a sensible choice because the Oscar is like a lobby." "So, in a way having the financial support is a very good thing and it takes a film much further than when you do not have any money to do it." LL is produced by Jyoti Deshpande, Rao, and Aamir Khan.
'LL' triumphed over several popular films
Laapataa Ladies, starring Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, and Ravi Kishan in pivotal roles, was selected as India's official entry for the 2025 Oscars in September. The film beat strong competition from Ranbir Kapoor's Animal, Kartik Aaryan's Chandu Champion, Prabhas's Kalki 2898 AD, the National Award-winning Malayalam film Aattam, Rajkummar Rao's Srikanth, and Vicky Kaushal's Sam Bahadur. The feminist drama is streaming on Netflix.
