Kiran Rao on Lost Ladies journey to Oscars: ‘We stand on backs of women who came before us’

Kiran Rao is acceptable for the Oscars.

Come January, we’ll cognize if Rao’s 2nd directorial venture, Lost Ladies, India’s official information for champion planetary film successful 2025, has a accidental astatine winning astatine the 97th Academy Awards.

Lost Ladies follows Phool and Jaya, 2 young newlywed brides, who get exchanged during a bid thrust to their husband’s homes. Rao’s 2nd movie aft Dhobi Ghat in 2010, Lost Ladies was screened astatine the 48th Toronto International Film Festival past twelvemonth successful September and released theatrically successful March 2024.

Based connected a screenplay by Biplab Goswami, the publication was brought to Rao by her erstwhile husband, the histrion and shaper Aamir Khan.

Speaking to The Independent, Rao describes the travel the movie took, from a publication to go India’s authoritative introduction to the Oscars.

“The archetypal publication by Biplab really had a batch of the bones of what yet made it to the film,” Rao says.

“And the thought of the swap was, of course, cardinal to however the communicative played out. And that successful itself was precise breathtaking to maine due to the fact that it’s a travel film, and they springiness you a batch of imaginable to make adventures on the way, revelations that the travel tin propulsion up, the maturation successful the characters arsenic they advancement done that journey.”

Rao credits Goswami’s penning arsenic a “great spot to commencement gathering precise absorbing characters”, which were built further with writer Sneha Desai.

Rao decided that a comedic, much satirical attraction of the thought that 2 brides, dressed likewise successful bridal finery with their faces covered by their veils, could extremity up with the incorrect husbands would beryllium much fitting.

Because the thought is absurd, and yet oddly plausible, if 1 looks astatine the taste context.

“The thought of the 2 brides getting swapped due to the fact that of a disorder with the veil is funny, but it was besides a large mode to satirise and past code a batch of the themes I wanted to furniture into the screenplay,” she said.

“We wanted to physique absorbing characters, the experiences of women, and truly absorption connected the thought of women’s potentials being possibly constricted by society’s expectations of them.”

Lost Ladies is acceptable successful 2001, a information perfectly integral to the crippled not conscionable due to the fact that it was a clip earlier mobile phones became arsenic communal arsenic they are now, but besides due to the fact that the aforesaid exertion was conscionable starting to find its mode into the hands of resourceful young women.

“In much ways than one, we could spot what whitethorn hap erstwhile exertion is enactment successful the hands of a woman. And it was besides a clip erstwhile modernity and the conventional, accepted satellite were besides changing rather drastically successful India, with exertion going into tiny towns and villages. It was a large clip to acceptable the movie successful arsenic a backdrop for these characters who were going to navigate a travel with precise rigid expectations that were acceptable for them to thing unexpected,” Rao says.

Rao makes a pertinent constituent astir mislaid imaginable of women and what could hap —her movie was selected for the Oscars by the aforesaid state whose movie certification assemblage denied clearance to a movie by a pistillate filmmaker successful 2017 for being excessively “lady oriented”.

This year, Lost Ladies went up against 29 shortlisted films which included 2 different frontrunners to beryllium India’s entry—Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine arsenic Light and the National Award-winner Aattam.

All 3 films hap to travel women’s stories, and amusement however acold the state has come.

“Honestly, I’m truly honoured to beryllium successful the institution of radical similar Payal, Sandhya Suri from the UK, whose movie [Santosh] is England’s entry. And I deliberation it’s rather an absorbing and breathtaking infinitesimal for women, Indian women successful cinema,” Rao says.

“You know, we’ve had Guneet [Monga] and Kartiki [Gonsalves] who won champion documentary astatine the Oscars, and we had Shuchi Talati’s movie Girls Will Be Girls at Sundance. We had Anasuya [Sengupta] and Payal winning astatine Cannes, truthful I’m hoping that it’s the commencement of a question that continues for a precise agelong time.

“We bash basal connected the backs of a batch of enactment that was done successful the past fewer decades by women who person been successful the movie industry, pushing their stories and their perspectives into what is simply a precise powerfully male-dominated industry. The information that determination are truthful galore women from India representing storytelling is simply a large motion for times to come.

“We spot women filmmakers present successful practically each industry, truthful we are present seeing a batch much women who are capable to bring their stories into a abstraction wherever possibly the norm was that the men are the protagonists, they’re the ones redeeming the day. But I deliberation this has decidedly changed crossed the country, and portion I cognize the alteration is tiny due to the fact that successful existent terms, we inactive don’t person parity with men.

“But I deliberation there’s been a wide question successful the past 20 years and we’ve been pushing wherever we are—women filmmakers similar Reema [Kagti], Zoya [Akhtar], Alankrita [Shrivastava], Leena [Yadav], Ashwiny [Iyer Tiwari]. So it’s truthful bully that there’s a abstraction present wherever it’s not an anomaly and you’re not the minority; we privation to beryllium arsenic represented, astatine slightest wrong the Indian context.”

As much stories astir women are being told, determination are besides much women watching these stories. While critics and the assemblage responded mostly positively to Lost Ladies, immoderate felt that the movie lacked nuance and that its feminist themes seemed excessively limiting, excessively simplistic.

On specified criticism, Rao chooses to look astatine the metallic lining. “When we made this film, we truly wanted to code definite struggles that women look beauteous broadly. And I deliberation if 1 tries to enactment the movie to each azygous test, past possibly we didn’t code caste oregon each contented that women spell done either,” she says.

“But I deliberation the thought was to besides look astatine a spectrum of women from mothers, grandmothers, sisters-in-law, from characters similar Manju Maai to the 2 young girls, to look astatine the experiences that women person successful a definite benignant of agrarian environment, but besides successful galore ways, issues that are faced successful very, precise municipality spaces arsenic well. So I consciousness that we achieved what we acceptable retired to execute successful presumption of what we wanted to speech about.

“And I’m gladsome that it opens the abstraction for treatment astir possibly each the different things that could person been there, oregon possibly the things that we addressed that radical person antithetic perspectives on. So I’m ever unfastened to that discussion.”

There are precocious hopes pinned connected Rao’s film. Despite the record-breaking numbers of films India releases successful a year, lone 3 Indian films person earned a information astatine the Oscars. None person won.

The past Indian movie to beryllium nominated successful the champion planetary diagnostic class was the 2001 play movie Lagaan, starring Aamir Khan arsenic the lead.

One mightiness safely presume that with this being Khan’s 2nd clip with an Oscars campaign, Lost Ladies is successful harmless hands.

“Things are some the aforesaid and antithetic since Lagaan had been sent arsenic India’s entry. There are, of course, a batch much countries, and it takes a batch of money, power, cognition building, holding screenings for radical each implicit the world, to simply get radical to registry that this movie is successful the running,” Rao says.

“I deliberation for us, the occupation is to conscionable get radical to ticker the film, due to the fact that that’s the champion way, oregon rather, the lone mode to marque it—if you get the voters successful your class to ticker the film.

On her chances astatine the Oscars, Rao stays optimistic. “I consciousness similar portion determination are much, overmuch bigger Goliaths retired there, I’m hoping Lost Ladies will beryllium a small David.”

Lost Ladies is disposable for streaming connected Netflix.