Missing Ladies will be India's official entry in the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars 2025. The Film Federation of India has selected this film directed by Kiran Rao. A list of about 29 films was placed in front of the jury members of the Film Federation of India, from which they had to select one film. Missing Ladies won the lottery, but the films that lagged behind in this race also include many great names.
Director Kiran Rao is very happy with Missing Ladies being sent to the Oscars. She has said that this is a proof of how much hard work the entire team of the film has done. She has also thanked all the people including the cast and crew of the film. She said that she feels honoured by this decision of the committee.
There were many films in the race to become the official entry in the foreign category, which have made bumper earnings at the box office. This includes the names of Telugu mythology science fiction film Kalki 2898 AD and Hanuman-Man. Apart from this, there are also Hindi films like Animal, Sam Bahadur and Article 370. These films earned a lot at the box office after release. Kalki 2898 AD has earned Rs 1041.65 crore worldwide, Animal 915 crore, Hanuman-Man 295 crore, Article 370 has earned Rs 105.01 crore and Rs 130.3 crore.
Last year's film '2018: Everyone is a Hero' made huge money at the box office. The film was also well received by the people. This Tovino Thomas starrer was directed by Jude Anthony Thomas. Apart from this, Ullozhukku, directed by Christy Tomy, released on 21 June 2024, was also in the race. The film's rating on IMDb is 7.6/10. Malayalam cinema film Attam was also in the race. The film's rating on IMDb is 8.2/10.
Apart from Kalki 2898 AD and Hanuman from Telugu cinema, the film Mangalvaram was also in the race. This film was released in theaters on 17 November 2023. The film is directed by Ajay Bhupathi. Apart from this, many famous and best films of Tamil cinema were also included in this list. Vijay Sethupathi and Anurag Kashyap's film Maharaja, which came this year, was one of them. The film was critically acclaimed. But it could not become an official entry in the Oscars. Apart from this, Chiyaan Vikram's Tangalan, which was released recently, was also in the race. Films like Vaazhai, Kottukali, Jama and Jigarthanda 2 were also present in the list of 29 films.
This time there were many Hindi films in the race to get entry in the Oscars. These include films like Manoj Bajpayee's Zoram, Raghav Juyal and Lakshya Lalwani's action-packed film Kill, Ajay Devgan's film Maidan, Kartik Aryan's Chandu Champion and Rajkumar Rao's Shrikant. Apart from this, films like Animal, Sam Bahadur and Article 370, Swatantrya Veer Savarkar and Payal Kapadia's film All We Imagine as Light were also present in the list.
The names of two films from Marathi cinema have come out which were in the list of 29 films that reached the jury. The name of Swargandharva Sudhir Phadke is included in this. This film is based on the life of Marathi music director Sudhir Phadke. The film is directed by Yogesh Deshpande. Apart from this, the film Gharat Ganpati directed by Navjyot Bandivadekar was also in this list.
