India's Elusive Oscar

It is that time of the year again when actors, directors, producers, screenwriters and everyone else who fits in "cast and crew" get into tuxedos black and white and gowns long and lavish, ready to sit in halls and theatres to celebrate and applaud the art made last year. After a string of delays due to the Los Angeles fires and an even longer string of controversies and endless campaigning, awards season is finally up and running, and the 97th Oscars are only a couple of weeks away. And, as has become customary for us mere mortals halfway around the globe from all the glitz and glamour, we find ourselves asking the same wretched question again. When in the name of all that is holy will this damn country ever win an Academy Award?

I remember going through my General Knowledge textbook in Class 3 or 4. There was this two-page detailed description of the Academy Awards. It explained how it was the most prestigious honour in the world of films, how it was the dream of every filmmaker to win one, and how Lagaan (2001) was the third and to date the last Indian film to receive a nomination. And I remember thinking, "Wow, shame on them for not appreciating Indian films."

More than a decade later, much remains the same. Lagaan is still the last Indian film nominated for Best International Feature. The only thing that's changed? It's no longer "shame on them". It is "shame on us".

It is very easy, as it was for me a decade ago, to make uninformed accusations at the Academy, claiming that they are the ones who are elitist, that they don't focus on the Indian film industry. It takes a simple look into the records to realise how mistaken that opinion is. In the last few years, films like The White Tiger (2021), Writing with Fire (2021), All That Breathes (2022), To Kill a Tiger (2022) and Anuja (2024) have all been nominated in different categories, while Period. End of Sentence (2018), The Elephant Whisperers (2022) and most notably RRR (2022) have all gone on to win. These films are all either Indian productions or feature an Indian story and cast. When we look at award shows other than the Oscars, the list of accolades expands. The National Board of Review named RRR one of the ten best films of 2022, making it only the seventh non-English language film ever to make it to the list. All We Imagine As Light (2024) won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and has since nearly swept the critic circle awards for Foreign Language Film, earning director Payal Kapadia nominations at the Directors' Guild of America and the Golden Globes. Why, then, despite all these recognitions, do we continue to fail to get even a nomination for the Best International Feature Oscar? The answer according to me is simple: politics.

The Academy is the only major awards body with a strict rule regarding the International Feature category. Each country has to choose one official entry, and no other film from that country can be considered. This was done to prevent the dominance of multiple films from just a handful of European countries and to ensure that other countries also stand a chance. Since the submission deadline is towards the end of the year, many critic circles and film festivals already announce their nominees or winners by then. Most countries use this to their benefit, as it helps them recognize which film of theirs has been the most acclaimed. As it would be fairly easy to campaign for a film that is already being awarded, the film is then submitted for the Oscars.

But not in India. Year after year, the Film Federation of India chooses to ignore the films being received the best in the Western film industry and instead submits films that have no chance of putting together a feasible campaign. At some point, someone has to stop and ask, is the FFI really that dumb, or are there explanations for their decisions? And at least this year, there does seem to be an explanation.

As aforementioned, All We Imagine As Light shot to prominence when it won the Grand Prix, the second-highest honour at Cannes. It was being nominated and awarded left and right by critic groups and film festivals. It had a significant presence in the awards conversation even before the season started, with prediction sites such as GoldDerby positioning it as the frontrunner to WIN the Oscar for International Feature. A small, independent film directed by a young brown woman seemed poised for glory when it was unexpectedly betrayed by her own country. The FFI announced Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies as the official submission. While a great film in its own merit, Laapataa Ladies had no presence in the Western industry. It was clearly another one of FFI's picks with no hopes of a nomination. Had this happened a couple of decades ago, it would've been impossible to track down the real reason for All We Imagine As Light's snub. In this glorious age of the internet, it took minutes.

In 2015, while still a student at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Payal Kapadia led a protest against the appointment of Bhartiya Janta Party politician Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of the institute. Chauhan was appointed over several other candidates which the students preferred, some of whom already worked at the institute. Left-wing student associations, led by Kapadia, alleged that it was a blatant attempt to "saffronize the institute". The continued protests eventually led to Chauhan's resignation in 2017. While this chapter seemingly closed itself, the grudges and the memories clearly remained, and the ugly game that is Indian politics struck its revenge against Kapadia the first chance it got.

"Dissent, in art and in life, is a tough path to choose. But sometimes it does create magic." - Varun Grover, on All We Imagine As Light

Dissent. It is the only thing that can keep a democracy running. One has to wonder how can the largest democracy in the world, and especially how can its government, boast of championing free speech when it punishes some of the brightest of its people for voicing their dissent. Are we being told by those in power that speech can only be free so far as it isn't against them? That art can only be appreciated so far as it doesn't criticize them? That artists only deserve recognition so far as they don't protest them?

It is not just about one film or one director. Payal Kapadia did what she had to do. She spoke truth to power, and she made a film that will forever be remembered as one of the best of 2024. She created magic and she went down with her dissent. These questions will live beyond her. And it is up to those of us who care about appreciating art and its integrity to demand answers. Art is politics. Art will always be politics. This country cannot claim to be a democracy if it shuns down artists for their politics. The Academy and the rest of the Western film industry are doing their best to show their appreciation for our art. It is about damn time we start doing our part, lest that International Feature Oscar will remain elusive.