List of Indian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

Mehboob Khan, Mira Nair, and Ashutosh Gowariker: the directors of the three Indian film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

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, 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]

  1. ^ "Academy announces rules for 92nd Oscars". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 23 April 2019. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  2. ^ "Academy Announces Rule Changes For 92nd Oscars". Forbes. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019.
  3. ^ "History of the Academy Awards – Page 2". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 6 April 2008. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  4. ^ "Rule Thirteen: Special Rules for the Foreign Language Film Award". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  5. ^ "History of the Academy Awards – Page 1". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 13 April 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  6. ^ a b "Malayalam film Adaminte Makan Abu is India's Oscar entry". The Times of India. 23 September 2011. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013.
  7. ^ Roy, Piyush (17 January 2008). "India's Oscar drill". The Indian Express. Indian Express Limited. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference 30th Oscars was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Khanna, Priyanka (24 February 2008). "For Bollywood, Oscar is a big yawn again". Thaindian News. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  10. ^ "India's Oscar entry in this decade – Shwaas (2004)". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013.
  11. ^ "No Indian entry this year for Oscars". The Times of India. 28 September 2003. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013.
  12. ^ "Nominations for India". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013.
  13. ^ "National Film Awards jury's new plans for Oscars". CNN-IBN. 7 September 2011. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013.


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