Why is Laapataa Ladies India's best bid to break the Oscar jinx?

It offers a rare, authentic portrayal of rural India

Laapataa Ladies revolves around a young farmer named Deepak (Sparsh Shrivastav) who mistakes another man’s wife for his own, while descending from a crowded train. Things go from bad to worse when the ‘mistaken’ wife Jaya (Prathiba Ranta) starts behaving suspiciously, while the 'real' wife, Phool (Nitanshi Goel), longs for her husband in another city.

Set in the fictional village of Nirmal Pradesh in 2001, the film’s strongest suit is its ability to portray the real India, where farmers follow the joint-family system, where privacy isn’t common, and where law enforcers are corrupt but with a heart of gold. The story takes place in the days before cell phones and the internet were common, making it more interesting.

The film had a fresh bunch of faces

Making a film with no known faces is always a difficult thing for a director, especially if you are making a comeback after more than a decade. However, Kiran Rao capitalized on this by presenting characters instead of actors.

Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastav, and Chhaya Kadam might not have been as popular when cast, but today everyone in India recognizes their names.

As for veteran Ravi Kishan, the role of Sub Inspector Shyam Manohar was a game-changer as he finally received the recognition he’d longed for since his debut.

The feel-good factor will certainly help the film

Most films submitted and shortlisted for the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars have an agenda, however, Laapataa Ladies doesn’t have one. Its biggest USP is that it is different from run-of-the-mill films like Pathaan, Jawan, and Animal.

It shows other filmmakers that you don’t need to have a huge budget to make a successful film and champions the cause of low-budget entertainers alongside 12th Fail.

There was no fight sequence, no villain, or inappropriate scene to draw crowds, yet people are still talking about Laapataa Ladies as if they were part of the story.

It would even have made William Shakespeare proud!

Laapataa Ladies reworks the age-old 'mistaken identity' formula in a way that would make Shakespeare proud. He used to incorporate the mistaken identity formula in his plays and it has been done to death by Bollywood, yet Laapataa Ladies feels fresh, non-preachy, and relatable.

It also makes you wonder what you would have done, had you been in the same situation. Like Aamir Khan’s earlier production Peepli Live, it it reveals the real India, where people don’t live in lavish houses, wealth isn’t measured by cars, and technology isn’t common.

Despite these restrictions, the director manages to create hilarious situations out of thin air, thanks to the gripping screenplay and everyday dialogues which are simple like in TV dramas, instead of the usual explosiveness found in film dialogues.

Why the film might win India its first Foreign Film Oscar

Everything from art direction to the diction of the characters was spot on in this film; once the audience enters the Laapataa Ladies' domain, they are captivated by the beautiful locations, simplistic way of living, and unknown faces doing regular things like searching for their loved ones, worrying about each other, etc.