Vikramaditya Motwane slams FFI for not choosing All We Imagine As Light over Laapataa Ladies for Oscars

After Hansal Mehta and Ricky Kej, now, filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane has expressed his disappointment about sending Laapataa Ladies as India's official entry for Oscars 2025. In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, the filmmaker explained why All We Imagine As Light could have been a better choice.

(Also Read: Vikramaditya Motwane on why genre-hopping is liberating for him: I really like making movies)

Vikramaditya Motwane thinks Laapataa Ladies was not right choice for Oscars

When asked for his opinion about Laapataa Ladies being fit for India's official entry to Oscars 2025, Vikramaditya Motwane 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.”

Vikramaditya Motwane slams FFI

He further slammed FFI for rejecting All We Imagine As Life as India's official entry to Oscars 2025 considering it to be a European film and 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."

Vikramaditya further mentioned why he thinks All We Imagine As Light would have been a better choice for the Oscars and stated that the film ‘stopped pretty much every single critic, all around the world’ so it was a ‘no-brainer’ to pick to over Laapataa Ladies. He also brought up how The Lunchbox was also snubbed previously.

After Laapataa Ladies failed to make a cut to Oscars 2025 shortlist, the FFI faced immense backlash on social media for selecting it as India's official entry. Defending the jury, FFI jury head Jahnu Baruaa told HT, "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."

Meanwhile, Vikramaditya Motwane is all set to entertain the audience with his upcoming series, Black Warrant. The series stars Shashi Kapoor's grandson Zahan Kapoor as a rookie jailer trying to survive in 'India's most unforgiving jail' and is set to release on Netflix on January 10, 2025.