India has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (formerly Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film)[a] since 1957, a year after the incorporation of the category.[3] The award is given annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue.[4] The "Best Foreign Language Film" category was not created until 1956; however, between 1947 and 1955, the academy presented a non-competitive Honorary Award for the best foreign language films released in the United States.[5]
The Film Federation of India (FFI) appoints a committee to choose one film among those released that year to be submitted as India's official entry to the academy for a nomination for "Best Foreign Language Film" the following year.[6] The chosen films, along with their English subtitles, are sent to the academy, where they are screened for the jury.[7] The 1957 Hindi film Mother India was India's first submission. The film made it to the final shortlist and was nominated alongside four other films in the category.[8] It came close to winning the Academy Award but lost to Nights of Cabiria by a single vote.[9] Since 1984, India has not submitted a film on only one occasion; in 2003, the FFI controversially chose not make an entry as they felt no film would be in a position to compete with films from other nations.[10][11] As of 2021[update], only three Indian films—Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay! (1988) and Lagaan (2001)—have been nominated for the award.[12] In 2011, the jury of the 58th National Film Awards made a recommendation that the Best Film winners at the annual National Film Awards be chosen as the official entry.[6][13]
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