Aamir Khan Defends ‘Laapataa Ladies’ As It Heads For Oscars 2025

New Delhi: The nomination of Kiran Rao’s ‘Laapataa Ladies’ for Oscars 2025 drew a lot of criticism.

Produced by Aamir Khan, ‘Laapataa Ladies’ has been nominated in the Best International Feature category for the prestigious Academy Awards to be held on March 3, 2025.

On why films based in rural India are more popular among Academy voters, Aamir told BBC Asian Network, “Not all the films we make are set in villages. A lot of our films are accepted all over the world. I don’t think audiences all over the world have any major misconceptions about how India is any more. Maybe at one time this was true, that they felt India was a land of snake charmers and elephants… But that’s a thing of the past now. I don’t think people have misconceptions about what India is like anymore, not to that extent, certainly.”

Asked if ‘Laapataa Ladies’ will be able to win over the international audience, the producer said, “We should give them (the international audience) more credit, they’ve seen films from all over the world.”

‘Laapataa Ladies’, renamed as ‘Lost Ladies’, revolves around two young brides who get exchanged on a train journey.

The film stars Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastav, Nitanshi Goel and Ravi Kishan in pivotal roles.