Please Send Payal’s Film To The Oscars!

How
wonderful
it
would
be
for
all
of
us
to
watch
the
Oscar
ceremony
on
March
2,
2025
and
watch

AWIAL
win
an
Oscar,
notes
Aseem
Chhabra.

On
May
25,
I
sat
in
the
huge
Debussy
Theatre
in
Cannes
waiting
to
watch
the
film
festival
awards
presentation
broadcast
on
the
giant
screen.
The
actual
ceremony
would
take
place
next
door
in
the
Grand
Theatre
Lumiere,
where
all
the
celebrities
were
present.

There
had
been
a
lot
of
buzz
after
the
public
and
press
screenings
of
Payal
Kapadia’s
first
narrative
feature,

All
We
Imagine
as
Light.

The
reviews
had
been
very
strong,
including
a
five-star
rating
by
Peter
Bradshaw
in

The
Guardian
(he
described
it
as
fluent
and
absorbing
like
Satyajit
Ray’s

Aranyer
Din
Ratri)
and
an
A
score
by
IndieWire,
known
for
very
conservative
film
reviews.

A
lot
of
people
anticipated

AWIAL
to
win
a
major
award
and
it
became
more
and
more
evident
as
the
second-tier
awards
were
announced.

Then
it
happened.

AWIAL
received
the
Grand
Prix,
the
second
highest
award
at
the
Cannes
Film
Festival.

This
was
the
first
for
an
Indian
film
since
1946,
when
Chetan
Anand’s

Neecha
Nagar
won
the
same
recognition,
although
in
those
days
Cannes
did
not
have
the
Palme
d’Or
award.

Kapadia
brought
her
three
lead
women
actors
—
Kani
Kusruti,
Divya
Prabha
and
Chhaya
Kadam
—
on
stage.
The
four
women
hugged
and
then
Kapadia
began
to
speak,
when
an
usher
showed
her
the
side
she
should
exit
from.

‘I
am
not
done
yet,’
Kapadia
said
with
a
smile,
as
the
audience
laughed.

Yes,
Kapadia
is
not
done
yet.

After
the
film
received
an
eight
minute-long
standing
ovation
in
Cannes,
this
fall’s
three
major
North
American
film
festivals,
held
in
Telluride,
Toronto
and
New
York,
have
all
programmed

AWIAL.

It
is
a
rare
achievement
for
an
Indian
film.

In
2020,
in
the
midst
of
the
pandemic,
Chaitanya
Tamhane’s

The
Disciple
played
at
the
Venice,
Toronto
and
New
York
festivals.

For
the
festival
world,
the
trade
analysts,
bloggers
and
others
in
the
circles
that
matter
during
the
awards
season,

AWIAL
is
definitely
the
most
recognised
Indian
film
of
2024.

I
just
watched
the
film
again
at
a
press
screening
at
the
Toronto
International
Film
Festival
and
there
was
applause
at
the
end.
Press
screenings
at
TIFF
rarely
witness
applause.

That
is
why
I
strongly
believe
that
India
must
submit

All
We
Imagine
as
Light
as
its
official
entry
for
Best
International
Film
Oscar
for
2025.

Earlier
this
week,

Variety
predicted
that

AWIAL
had
a
definite
chance
of
being
one
of
the
five
nominated
films
in
the
Best
International
Film
category.

If
that
happens,
it
would
only
be
the
fourth
time
for
an
Indian
film
to
be
nominated
in
that
category.
And
that
would
be
22
years
after

Lagaan,
the
last
Indian
film
to
be
selected
in
the
elite
group.
To
date,
no
Indian
film
has
won
the
Best
International
Film
Oscar.

The
lead
producers
of

AWIAL
are
French.
As
a
co-production,
the
film
has
a
lot
of
European
financial
backing.

That
was
expected,
since
it
is
hard
for
a
specialised
film
with
actors
speaking
in
various
Indian
languages,
including
Malayalam,
Marathi,
Hindi,
with
a
smattering
of
Gujarati
and
Bengali,
to
find
funding
in
India.

But
the
film
also
has
a
few
Indian
producers
tied
to
it.
It
has
an
entirely
Indian
cast.
It
is
an
Indian
story
about
migrants
in
Mumbai,
and
their
struggles,
disappointments,
love
lives
and
the
friendship
between
two
nurses
from
Kerala
and
one
from
Maharashtra.

It
is
a
beautiful,
moving
film,
gorgeously
shot
by
Ranabir
Das
(he
also
shot
Kapadia’s
2021
experimental
documentary,
the
Golden
Eye
winner
at
Cannes:

A
Night
of
Knowing
Nothing),
narrated
in
an
unhurried,
poetic
style,
a
story
with
characters
rarely
explored
in
Indian
cinema.

AWIAL
has
not
had
a
theatrical
release
in
India,
but
that
is
just
a
minor
detail
and
there
is
still
time
for
that.

The
Film
Federation
of
India,
the
producers
body
that
selects
India’s
Oscar
entry,
has
often
made
grave
errors
by
selecting
wrong
films
to
represent
India.
Sometimes
I
sense
they
do
not
develop
the
correct
strategy
of
selecting
films
that
would
have
good
chances
of
competing
with
the
best
of
world
cinema.

Look
at
their
track
record:

Indian
and

Jeans,
both
directed
by
S
Shankar;

The
Good
Road
instead
of

The
Lunchbox,
one
of
the
most
embarrassing
decisions
by
FFI.
Even
sending

Jallikattu
instead
of

The
Disciple
made
little
sense.

Like

AWIAL,

The
Disciple
had
a
strong
recognition
amongst
the
global
film
community,
after
it
won
the
Best
Screenplay
award
at
Venice.
Plus,
Mexican
film-maker
Alfonso
Cuarón
was
its
executive
producer.

There
were
some
other
good
Indian
films
this
year,
from

Laapataa
Ladies
and

Manjummel
Boys
to

Kotttukkali.
But
I
really
hope
this
year,
FFI
does
the
right
thing
and
picks

AWIAL,
instead
of
making
a
decision
that
would
not
serve
Indian
cinema
well.

That
night
in
late
May,
I
sat
in
the
Debussy
Theatre
as
Kapadia
delivered
her
acceptance
speech.
I
held
my
phone
in
one
hand
making
a
video
of
the
speech.
But
I
was
overjoyed
and
quite
emotional
as
I
was
witnessing
Indian
cinema
history
being
made.

How
wonderful
it
would
be
for
all
of
us
to
watch
the
Oscar
ceremony
on
March
2,
2025,
and
have
a
similar
combined
experience
if

AWIAL
wins
the
Oscar,
or
at
least
is
in
the
running
for
the
trophy.