Animal to Kalki 2898 AD: Films that lost to Laapataa Ladies in India's Oscar race

On September 23, director Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies was chosen as India's official entry for the Oscars 2025. The film competed against 28 films in various languages.

In Short

• Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies was chosen as India's official entry for Oscars 2025
• The film competed against 28 Indian movies from different languages
• 11 Hindi films, six Tamil films and four Malayalam films were in the race

Director Kiran Rao's critically acclaimed film, Laapataa Ladies, was chosen as India's official entry for the Oscars 2025. The Hindi film successfully beat 28 other Indian films to emerge as the official pick. In fact, Cannes winner and Malayalam film All We Imagine As Light lost out to Laapataa Ladies. The official announcement regarding India's Oscar entry was made in New Delhi, and the jury was led by Jahnu Barua, chairman of the Film Federation of India."

Laapataa Ladies competed against 12 Hindi films, six Tamil films, four Malayalam films, three Marathi films and an Odia film, Some of the popular films include Ranbir Kapoor's Animal, Prabhas's Kalki 2898 AD, Chiyaan Vikram's Thangalaan, National Award-winning Malayalam film, Aattam.

The final five films that made the list for India's official entry to the Oscars are Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies, Pa Ranjith's Thangalaan, Mari Selvaraj's Vaazhai, Christo Tomy's Ullozhukku and Tushar Hiranandani's Srikanth.

HERE ARE THE INDIAN FILMS THAT LOST TO LAAPATAA LADIES

TELUGU FILMS - 3

• HanuMan

Director: Prasanth Varma

Cast: Teja Sajja, Vinay Rai, Amritha Aiyer and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

The superhero film is about a man who gains the power of Lord Hanumanafter discovering a gem. He is then pitted against Michael to save the people of Anjadri village.

• Kalki 2898 AD

Director: Nag Ashwin

Cast: Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Kamal Haasan

The future of India's last city, Kasi, rises after Lord Vishnu's final avatar wages a war against negative forces.

• Mangalavaaram

Director: Ajay Bhupathi

Cast: Payal Rajput, Nandita Swetha and Priyadarshi Pulikonda

The psychological thriller revolves around Sub-Inspector Maya who faces the battle with superstition and the spirit of a mysterious girl.

HINDI FILMS - 11

• Chota Bheem and The Curse of Damayaan

Director: Rajiv Chilaka

Cast: Yagya Bhasin, Aashriya Mishra and Swarna Pandey

The fantasy action adventure is about a young boy who fights against an evil sorcerer along with his friends.

• Good Luck

Director: Prakhar Shrivastava

Cast: Brijendra Kala, Tulika Banerjee and Malti Mathur

The film chronicles the life of a 75-year-old woman who accidentally becomes pregnant.

• Kill

Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhatt

Cast: Lakshya, Raghav Juyal and Ashish Vidyarthi.

The hardcore action thriller, which takes place inside a train, is about a violent face-off between citizens and bandits.

• Animal

Director: Sandeep Reddy Vanga

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna and Bobby Deol

Animal is about a son of a powerful industrialist who undergoes a transformation to avenge the attack on his father.

• Srikanth

Director: Tushar Hiranandani

Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Jyotika, Alaya F

The film is a biography on the life of a visually-imapaired industrialist who founded the Bollant industry.

• Chandu Champion

Director: Kabir Khan

Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Vijay Raaz , Bhuvan Arora

The biographical sports drama revolves around the life of Murlikant Petkar, India's first Paralympics gold medallist.

• Joram

Director: Devashish Makhija

Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Smita Tambe

Joram is about a doting father and his three-month-old daughter who are on the run. The father wants to face his adversaries and redeem himself.

• Maidaan

Director: Amit Ravindernath Sharma

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Priyamani, Gajraj Rao

The biographical film is based on the life of Syed Abdul Rahim, a pioneering football coach in India from 1952 to 1962.

• Sam Bahadur

Director: Meghna Gulzar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra

The biographical war drama is about the life of India's first field marshal, Sam Manekshaw.

• Swatantrya Veer Savarkar

Director: Randeep Hooda

Cast: Randeep Hooda, Ankita Lokhande, Amit Sial

The film chronicles around the life of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar from his childhood to some of his important events in life.

• Article 370

Director: Aditya Suhas Jambhale

Cast: Yami Gautam Shar and Priyamani

The political action thriller is about the anti-terrorism operations in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.

MALAYALAM FILMS - 4

• Aattam

Director: Anand Ekarshi

Cast: Zarin Shihab, Vinay Forrt and Kalabhavan Shajohn

The National Award-winning film is about a woman who gets groped by one of her acquaintances who is part of a theatre group. The story explores how the group of men, with only one female member, deals with the allegations.

• Ullozhukku

Director: Christo Tomy

Cast: Parvathy, Urvashi

The Malayalam drama is about a daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law discovering each other's deepest secrets while burying a loved one.

• Aadujeevitham

Director: Blessy

Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran, KR Gokul, Amala Paul and Jimmy Jean-Louis

The film is about an Indian migrant worker, Najeeb, who gets kidnapped in Saudi Arabia and made a slave. How he manages to escape forms the story.

• All We Imagine As Light

Director: Payal Kapadia

Cast: Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam and Hridhu Harron

The Cannes winner revolved around the lives of three women and their struggles to navigate their lives in Mumbai.

TAMIL FILMS - 6

• Kottukkaali

Director: PS Vinothraj

Cast: Soori, Anna Ben

The film revolves around a woman who is claimed to have been possessed by a spirit. The film questions patriarchy, superstition and chauvenism.

• Maharaja

Director: Nithilan Swaminathan

Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Anurag Kashyap, Sachana Namidass

The thriller is about a barber who seeks vengeance after his 'Lakshmi', a dustbin, is stolen. But, there's more than what meets the eye.

• Jigarthanda Double X

Director: Karthik Subbaraj

Cast: Raghava Lawrence, SJ Suryah, Nimisha Sajayan, Naveen Chandra

The period drama, set in the 1970s, revolves around a police officer who is trying to kill a gangster by disguising as a filmmaker.

• Thangalaan

Director: Pa Ranjith

Cast: Chiyaan Vikram, Malavika Mohanan, Daniel Caltagirone, Parvathy

The period drama is about a group of people in a village who struggle for liberation.

• Jama

Director: Pari Elavazhagan

Cast: Pari Elavazhagan, Ammu Abhirami, Chetan

The period drama is about a young theatre artist, who wants to continue his father's legacy while facing oppression.

• Vaazhai

Director: Mari Selvaraj

Cast: Ponvel, Raghul, Kalaiyarasan, Nikhila Vimal, Dhivya Duraisamy

Vaazhai is a biography on the life of director Mari Selvaraj. It traces his childhood where he worked at a banana plantation and how his life changes when tragedy strikes his family.

MARATHI FILMS - 3

• Gharat Ganpati

Director: Navjyot Bandiwadekar

Cast: Nikita Dutta, Bhushan Pradhan, Ajinkya Deo

The family drama, set in Konkan, shows the Gharat family's tradition of welcoming Gauri Ganpati.

• Swaragandharva Sudhir Phadke

Director: Yogesh Deshpande

Cast: Sunil Barve, Adish Vaidya, Sharad Ponkshe

The musical biography is based on the life of famous music director and singer, Sudhir Phadke.

• Ghaath

Director: Chhatrapal Ninawe

Cast: Jitendra Joshi, Milind Shinde, Janardan Kadam

The crime thriller is about the face-off between guerrillas, civilians and the police.

ODIA FILM - 1

• Aabha

Director: Pallab Roy

Cast: Anu Choudhury, Sona Mallick, Sweta Acharya, Subham Roygupta

Aabha's story revolves around a differently-abled child.

Last year, Malayalam film, 2018, starring Tovino Thomas, Asif Ali, Lal, and several others, was chosen as India's official Oscar entry. However, the film didn't make it to the Oscar nominations.