India's official Oscar entry: FFI responds to controversial claims by 'Swatantrya Veer Savarkar' makers

Kiran Rao's 'Laapataa Ladies' was recently announced as India's official entry for the Oscars. However, a day after the Film Federation of India (FFI), an independent body, made the announcement, the makers of Randeep Hooda's Swatantrya Veer Savarkar released a statement thanking the FFI for selecting their film as India's official submission for the Oscars. Sandeep Singh, the co-producer of the film dropped a message on Instagram: “Honored and humbled! Our film SwatantryaVeer Savarkar has officially been submitted for the Oscars. Thank You Film Federation of India for this remarkable appreciation,” he wrote.

The post created a lot of confusion with many questioning the possibility of two films being sent as India's official submission. However, FFI president Ravi Kottarakara has now cleared the air regarding the issue. In a statement to the media, Ravi said, “The FFI already announced that 'Laapataa Ladies' is the country's submission for the 2025 Academy Awards. We can only send one official entry from India and that is what we have been doing since 1956, so where is the question of any other film in the picture," he said.

On 'Swatantrya Veer Savarkar' makers' claim, he told The Federal: "Either they are ignorant of the process or they have submitted their film directly to the Oscars in some other categeory. However, if they continue to insist then we will have to send them a legal notice," he said.