Ricky Kej slams Oscar selectors as 'Laapataa Ladies' snub: We choose the wrong films year after year

Three-time Grammy Award-winning composer Ricky Kej criticised the selection committee for choosing 'Laapataa Ladies' as India's official entry to the Oscars 2025 after the film was snubbed from the shortlist. Kej expressed disappointment on social media, stating that the film was not the right choice and emphasised that India should select better films for international recognition.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Ricky Kej expressed his disappointment over the selection of 'Laapataa Ladies' as India's official entry for the Oscars 2025. He wrote, "So, the @TheAcademy Oscars shortlist is out. #LaapataaLadies is a very well made, entertaining movie (I enjoyed it), but was absolutely the wrong choice to represent India for the best #InternationalFeatureFilm category. As expected, it lost. When are we going to realize.. year after year.. we are choosing the wrong films. There are so many excellent movies made, and we should be winning the #InternationalFeatureFilm category every year!".



He further added, "Unfortunately we live in a "Mainstream Bollywood" bubble, where we cannot look beyond films that we ourselves find entertaining. Instead we should just look for good films made by film-makers who are uncompromising in their art.. low budget or big budget.. star or no star.. just great artistic cinema. Below is the poster of #LaapataaLadies, I am sure most academy voting members dismissed the film just by looking at these."

So far, no Indian film has won an Oscar for Best International Feature Film. Three films—'Mother India', 'Salaam Bombay!', and 'Lagaan' —were nominated but did not win. Although 'Slumdog Millionaire' is a British film, it had important contributions from India, including composer A.R. Rahman, who won two Oscars for it.