Director Hansal Mehta has slammed the Film Federation of India (FFI) for 'Laapataa Ladies' not being shortlisted for Oscars 2025. Kiran Rao's film 'Laapataa Ladies' was India's official Oscar entry, nominated in the Best International Feature category. On Tuesday, it was revealed that the film did not find a place in the shortlisted list. After this news, Hansal took a dig at FFI's selection on X.

Sharing the list of films shortlisted for Oscars 2025, Hansal wrote, "Film Federation of India did the same again. Every year their selection process and way of choosing films remains the same." Apart from Hansal, musician Ricky Kej and many social media users also criticized the decision of FFI. Ricky Kej wrote, 'Laapataa Ladies’ is a very good and entertaining film (I loved it), but it was absolutely the wrong choice to represent India in the 'Best International Feature Film' category. As expected, it lost."

He further added, “How long will it take for us to understand that we are choosing the wrong films every year. There are so many great films made and we should win in the ‘International Feature Film’ category every year. Unfortunately we live in a ‘mainstream Bollywood’ bubble where we can’t see beyond the films that we find entertaining. We should just watch films by filmmakers who work uncompromisingly in their art… whether it’s low budget or big budget, star or no star, it’s just great art cinema.”

A social media user wrote, “This is sad. The film that was officially submitted didn’t even get shortlisted. Remove the entire board of Film Federation of India and bring in some people who have a good understanding of film.” Meanwhile, fans are hoping that Payal Kapadia’s film ‘All We Imagine As Light’ will shine at the Oscars 2025. The film has already been nominated for the Golden Globes 2025 and the Critics' Choice Awards 2025.