Kiran Rao's 'Laapataa Ladies' misses the Oscar 2025 Shortlist. There is still Hope for India to make it to the Academy Awards from Guneet Monga's 'Anuja', which is a live action shortfilm addressing the issue of Child Labour in the garment industry, which features actors like Nagesh Bhonsle.

Oscar Academy member Ujwal Nirgudkar recognising the Indian film Anuja said, "I am happy to see Anuja, a live-action short film by Suchitra Matai, being selected amongst 180 short films in this category. Guneet Monga is an Executive Producer for this film, and the star cast includes many Indian names. This shows that Indian talent is recognized worldwide."

The Academy revealed that 85 countries or regions submitted films eligible for the International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards.

The top 15 films that have been shortlisted include France's 'Emilia Prez', Denmark's 'The Girl with The Needle' and Sandhya Suri's Hindi film from UK 'Santosh'. The other contenders are Touch , Kneecap, Vermiglio, Flow, Armand, From Ground Zero, Dahomey, and 'How to Make Millions before Grandma Dies'.