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Why Cannes Winner ‘All We Imagine as Light’ Was Snubbed by India’s Oscar Committee in Favor of ‘Laapataa Ladies’
Why Kiran Rao's 'Laapataa Ladies' was chosen over Payal Kapadia's Cannes winner 'All We Imagine as Light' as India's Oscar submission.
Each year, as fall approaches, India’s famously unpredictable Oscar committee takes center stage to pick their candidate in a process as dramatic as any Bollywood blockbuster. That’s because all the latest heat and noise has been in favor of “All We Imagine as Light,” which broke a 30-year Cannes competition hoodoo for India, went on to win the Grand Jury Prize and suddenly elevated its director Payal Kapadia from documentary-maker to celebrated auteur. Apart from its obvious cinematic merits, the answer could lie in the financial clout of one of its producers — billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Indian behemoth Jio Studios, part of India’s largest conglomerate, Reliance Industries Limited — and the visibility of another, Aamir Khan, who scored an Oscar nomination for “Lagaan.” Campaigning is expensive business and now that “Laapataa Ladies” is India’s choice, it will need the combined might of its producers to see it reach the international feature shortlist.
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