Following the announcement of Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies as India’s official Oscar entry for 2025, a number of social media users discussed how Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, despite winning at Cannes, had been “robbed” of the chance to compete. Director Jahnu Barua of Assamese film was the leader of the 12-member panel that reached this conclusion. Barua recently explored the reasons behind the official entry of Kiran Rao’s film.
When asked why Laapataa Ladies trumped the other films on the shortlist, Barua told the news agency, “The jury has to look at the right film that represents India on all fronts. Particularly, the film has to represent India’s social systems and ethos. The Indianness is very important, and Laapataa Ladies scored on that front.”
He added, “It is important that the best-suited film, which represents India, is sent as the official entry to the Oscars. There could be a better film outside the 29 films that were nominated too. But the jury can only choose from what they have been given, right?”
Speaking about how long the deliberation process took, Barua said, “We were in Chennai for 7-8 days, and we were watching the 29 films that were sent to us. Throughout this period, we used to have in-depth discussions about the films. Each and every jury member had strong opinions, and we kept the conversation going. We were in constant discussion about the films, studying it, shortlisting it, and finally coming up with one name. The final discussion to reach a consensus only took half a day or so because we were constantly in conversation about the films.”
“It was an exciting and passionate experience. It is something that doesn’t happen to everyone, and it made me very happy. Everyone who was part of the jury was in it for the love of Indian cinema,” he added.
When asked why only 29 films made it to the shortlist, Barua said, “That is what we need to find a way out. We need to have a system in place to do justice to the kind of films coming from Indian cinema. Shouldn’t we be sending the best possible film?”
Barua stated that he did not experience any pressure while carrying out this duty. “Not at all. In actuality, the jury members determine everything. We must take a rigorous stance and make sure that bias doesn’t creep into the selecting procedure. We must all use our own judgement to choose what is best. It also depends on the kind of leadership in a jury, and I never allowed any interference and influence in my jury,” he said.
