Laapataa Ladies, Kiran Rao’s heartwarming film — a story about mistaken identities and a subtle but impactful takedown of patriarchy — has been picked as India’s official entry to the 97th Academy Awards to be held in March next year.

Rao’s sophomore directorial outing, a seemingly simplistic tale of switched brides but, in reality, a gently biting satire with a strong feminist heart, was unanimously praised when it released in theatres in March and found many more fans with its release on OTT a few months ago.

Starring newcomers Sparsh Srivastava, Pratibha Ranta and Nitanshi Goel, with strong supporting acts by Ravi Kishen and Chhaya Kadam and co-produced by actor Aamir Khan, Laapataa Ladies has been selected from all-India nominations of 12 Hindi films, six Tamil and four Malayalam films. The film has beat out competition from the likes of Animal, Kill, Kalki 2898 AD, Srikanth, Chandu Champion, Joram, Maidaan, Sam Bahadur, Article 370, the Malayalam film Aattam, which won the National Award for Best Feature Film this year, and Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, a winner at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The jury, led by filmmaker Jahnu Barua, comprised 13 members.

“Laapataa Ladies works within the broad parameters of a social drama which asks quite a few questions but doesn’t make it on the nose. Kiran expertly milks the situations in the film for comic fodder as well as to comment on the times we live in,” is what t2 had noted in its review of the film. t2 and t2ONLINE are media partners of Laapataa Ladies.

“Laapataa Ladies has been made for audiences to enjoy. It is a comedy. It will endear itself to viewers unless there is an odd someone out there who hates feel-good films. You may not love the film, but it is unlikely that you will hate it,” is what Kiran had told t2 about the film right after its release.

It is to be noted that Aamir Khan’s Lagaan, which the actor co-produced and which had Kiran working as an assistant director, before the two met and married, was the last Indian film to make it to the last five of the Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars more than two decades ago. It lost to the Bosnian film No Man’s Land. In 2010, Peepli Live, produced by Aamir and Kiran, was picked as India’s official entry for the Academy Awards Best Foreign Film category, although it was finally not shortlisted.