New Delhi. “Missing Ladies” screenwriter Sneha Desai says she wouldn’t take “too seriously” the Film Federation of India’s (FFI) citation for choosing the film as India’s official entry to the Oscars 2025 as it could have been made by anyone.
The FFI selects India’s entry in the international film category every year. This year, the body’s 13-member jury was all men. The body faced ridicule online for its comments on the Kiran Rao-directed film. Many on social media said that the brief goes against the message the film tries to convey.
FFI wrote in its citation, “Indian women are a strange mix of subordination and dominance. In a world lacking well-defined, powerful characters – Missing Ladies. (Hindi) perfectly reflects this diversity… in a humorous way.” Desai is happy that the film will represent the country on the world stage despite there being no female members in the jury. She said, “I think this quote is not a clear indication of what the entire association or the jury thinks. I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt because it might have been crafted by someone else. Yes, they could have been a little careful but I would not like to take it too seriously.”
In an interview to PTI-Bhasha, the budding film writer said, “Not having any woman member in the jury is a decision which I don’t know how they decide it… Despite this, ‘Laapata Ladies’ being selected is a wonderful thing.” Desai, famous for TV shows like ‘Pushpa Impossible’ and ‘Wagle Ki Duniya’, has written the screenplay and dialogues of ‘Laapata Ladies’, which is based on the story of Biplab Goswami. Divyanidhi Sharma has written additional dialogues.
The writer said that ever since the news of the film being selected as India’s entry for the 97th Academy Awards broke, the cast and other concerned people have been flooded with phone calls and messages. She said, “We are very excited… It is a very wonderful feeling.” The film is the story of two brides who get swapped during a train journey on their wedding day. It was selected from a list of 29 films, which included Bollywood’s ‘Animal’, Malayalam National Award winner ‘Aattam’ and Cannes winner ‘All We Imagine as Light’.