India has selected Kiran Rao’s comedy of errors Laapataa Ladies (Lost Ladies) to represent the country in the 2025 Oscar race in the Best International Feature category.

The Hindi-language film, which premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, beat out Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, which had been considered the frontrunner for the Oscar slot, after its rapturous reception in Cannes, where it won the festival’s Grand Jury prize.

But Rao’s feature has proven a crowd-pleaser on the festival circuit. The light satire follows Jaya (Pratibha Ranta) and Phool (Nitanshi Goel): Two new brides, whose faces are hidden behind identical red marital veils, both traveling on the same Indian cross-country rail car to their nuptials, who get accidentally swapped and land at the wrong weddings, setting them on very different destinies. Yash Raj Films picked up international distribution rights to the film,...