If you have regrets going into the new year, just look at India’s submission for the Best International Film category for the Oscars, and you’ll likely feel better. Even as it had Payal Kapadia’s Cannes Grand Prix winner All We Imagine As Light in the palm of its hand, the Film Federation of India jury chose another. And everyone’s shaking their heads at this fumble because they’re already out of the race.
On December 17, 2024, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the shortlisted films in 10 categories, including Best International Feature for the 97th Academy Awards. And India’s entry, Laapataa Ladies, didn’t make the cut. Disappointment ran not just through hordes of Indian cinephiles who have been vehemently championing another Indian film that is collecting international awards like they’re Pokémons.
What rubs this in even further is that not only has All We Imagine As Light received a nomination for Best Non-English Language Motion Picture award at the Golden Globes, but director Payal Kapadia has been nominated for Best Director Motion Picture alongside the likes of Sean Baker (Anora), Coralie Fargeat (The Substance), and Brady Corbet (The Brutalist). This makes Kapadia the first Indian woman filmmaker to receive a Golden Globe nomination, and only the third Asian woman (after Chloé Zhao and Celine Song) to do so. So it’s no longer just a fumble, it’s a massive fumble. A titanic one that the FFI should never be able to live down.
It’s not like the Film Federation of India couldn’t have anticipated this. All We Imagine As Light, filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s fiction feature film debut, has been an awards season darling this year. Featuring a career-altering performance by Kani Kusruti, alongside Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam, and Hridhu Haroon, AWIAL has won over audiences with its form, visuals, storytelling, and the female gaze with which it looks at urban life, female friendships, and love. In May 2024, it became the first Indian film in 30 years (since 1994) to compete in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and went on to win the Grand Prix, a first for an Indian film (read our review here).
Naturally, you’d think when it came to placing their bets on a strong contender to win them the Academy Award for Best International Film, picking AWIAL was a no-brainer for the Film Federation of India’s Oscars 13-member jury. But to everyone’s utter surprise, the all-male jury chose to go with Kiran Rao’s rural Hindi comedy, Laapataa Ladies (Lost Ladies), a film about two brides in rural India getting swapped during a train ride due to veils covering their faces.
Now look, Lost Ladies is a sweet film. But when the selection was announced, there were several groans and loud criticisms of this decision. More so, because the reason that the jury cited for not picking AWIAL for the Oscars was, for the lack of a better word, ridiculous. Turns out, the jury felt the film was too European, while Lost Ladies represented a scenario that was only possible in India.
But the humiliation doesn’t end here. After Laapataa Ladies failed to qualify for the Oscars, the head of the FFI jury continued to defend their decision by trashing AWIAL and calling it “very poor technically.” As if a cosmic counter to their joke of a criticism, a mere three days later, All We Imagine As Light ended up on the top of former US president Barack Obama’s favourite movies of 2024.
It didn’t matter that in her film, Kapadia also portrays Mumbai in its duality, beautifully capturing the love-hate relationship one can have with the city in a way only a true native could. Many speculated that the film was snubbed because Kapadia is famously anti-establishment, having led protests as a filmmaking student at her alma mater, the Film and Television Institute of India in 2015.
What’s more, this isn’t the first time India has chosen to go against popular sentiment and lost a chance at an Oscar win. In 2023, despite the juggernaut that was RRR, the Film Federation of India chose Pan Nalin’s The Last Film Show as their official Oscars entry. RRR went on to win ‘Best Original Song’ independently at the Oscars, and with the kind of response that it had gotten, could’ve even won for film.
However, as someone who has watched both films and adores Laapataa Ladies with all her heart, this AWIAL upset gives me second-hand embarrassment. Because let’s be real, AWIAL is everywhere, in every award conversation, and every ‘Best Films of the Year’ list, while Laapataa Ladies, as lovely as it is, has nowhere close to the global recognition of AWIAL.
Apart from the Golden Globes nods, All We Imagine As Light is fresh off of winning Best International Feature at the Gotham Awards, New York Film Critics Circle Awards, and Toronto Film Critics Association, and Best Film Not in the English Language at the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards. Sight and Sound Magazine has named AWIAL as its Film of the Year from a list of 50 films, while the National Board of Review has listed it in its Top 5 International Films. More recently, it won the Best Foreign Language Film at the San Diego Film Critics Society and Philadelphia Film Critics Circle awards.
These awards come after the film has already won honours at other international film festivals like Cannes, San Sebastián International Film Festival, and Chicago International Film Festival, while also being nominated in several others for director, cinematography, and performance (Kani Kusruti).
Interestingly, both India and France (producers) could’ve submitted AWIAL as their official Oscars entry. France even shortlisted the film, but eventually went with Emilia Pérez, which has seen enough awards buzz (including several Golden Globe nominations) to be deemed a worthy choice and has made it to the Oscars shortlist. However, as more and more laurels get added to All We Imagine As Light’s cap, adding to its odds of winning the Best International Feature Oscar, the poorer this decision looks on India’s part. It also calls into question the process of how countries are submitting films to this category.
Of course, just like RRR, or Past Lives, All We Imagine As Light, too, could independently get nominations and even win at the Oscars (a possibility slowly gathering steam), and it’ll still be a win for an Indian film. But AWIAL could’ve been a fourth official nomination and, if it won, its first official Best International Film Oscar win for India. And that would’ve been a sweeter victory.
Nevertheless, most of us Indian cinema fans will be here, rooting for the film, and finding the golden lining in whatever happens next for AWIAL!
Published: Dec 28, 2024 02:10 pm