Get going, time to flex: Guneet Monga to Kiran Rao after 'Laapataa...' chosen as India's Oscar entry

Mumbai: Expressing her excitement on filmmaker Kiran Rao's "Laapataa Ladies" being picked as India's official entry for Academy Awards 2025, Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga on Wednesday said it may be a difficult journey ahead but the team should leave no stone unturned in its upcoming awards campaign.

"Laapataa Ladies", a light-hearted satire on patriarchy, was unanimously chosen by the Film Federation of India (FFI) to represent the country in the best international film category at the ceremony organised by the Los Angeles-based AMPAS.

Monga, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), said there's often little time left for filmmakers to campaign for the movie in the run-up to the awards.

"I'll say 'Laapataa Ladies' is the best Hindi film of the year. It is my favourite and it is so beautiful. I'm so glad to meet you (Rao) today as the news came (a few days ago). There are just a few stages, shortlists and nominations; you get to top 15 and top five. There's a campaign and I feel we always have a little time," she said.

The 97th Oscars will be held on March 2 next year.

In 2019, Monga's film "The Elephant Whisperers" won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film, four years after she won her first Oscar for the documentary short "Period. End of Sentence".

"I feel that hopefully our nominations are sent as early as possible so that we can gear up for the campaign, which is getting all the voters in the category to get us to a shortlist.

"It is technical, it is difficult but it is what every country goes through. There are certain norms to follow there but step one is get out there and get going, roll up the sleeves. It is time to flex and put a hoarding on the moon," said the producer as she shared her thoughts with Rao.

The duo along with actor-producer Richa Chadha were part of a session titled 'How Women are Redefining Indian Cinema', which was held on the day one of the India Today Mumbai Conclave 2024.

No Indian entry has been nominated for best international feature film at the Oscars since the Aamir Khan-starrer "Lagaan" in 2002. Only two other films have previously made it to the final five and they are the Nargis-starrer "Mother India" and Mira Nair's "Salaam Bombay!"

Last year, "Naatu Naatu", the peppy, foot-tapping chartbuster from SS Rajamouli’s Telugu period action film “RRR”, won the Academy Award in the best original song category.

Rao, who returned to direct "Laapataa Ladies" after a gap of 13 years, said stories centering on women are of great interest to her.

The film, based on the original story by Biplab Goswami, follows the story of two brides Phool and Pushpa who accidentally get swapped on a train.

"The story spoke to me. It was a story of two girls searching for their freedom, opportunity, for their voice. Stories like that interest filmmakers like me intrinsically because I feel we do not see enough stories of women, by women.

"It's exceedingly important that we invest much more in women storytellers, producers and actors in projects, held by women. It made me realise that I'm keenly aware and interested in women's experience. I'll probably continue to want to have interesting and nuanced women characters in everything that I do," Rao said.

Chadha, who along with actor-husband Ali Fazal produced their first film "Girls Will Be Girls" directed by Shuchi Talati, said independent cinema needs support.

"Guneet has been my producer (on 'Gangs of Wasseypur' and 'Masaan') and she's often spoken about how we need to have more labs. For our film, we found co-producers in France and in India after we entered the script in the NFDC Film Bazaar, which happens in Goa every year, which is the initiative of the Government of India. Then there was a subsidy for a film like ours, which is very small...

"It's important to have some support like that. It's no coincidence that 'Girls will be Girls' is an Indo-French film and as is Payal Kapadia's film (Cannes Grand Prix winner 'All We Imagine As Light'). So, when you have structures in place, scholarship money, subsidy or soft money that you don't have to return to the investor, it makes the job of the creators easier," she added.