Nitanshi Goel, who played the role of Phool Kumari in the film Laapataa Ladies, was unwell but couldn’t contain her excitement after hearing that her film was selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars 2025. Despite being down with a fever, her joy was infectious as she shared her first reaction in an exclusive interview with NDTV’s Hardika Gupta. She said, “I’m just super happy now. The news has taken away all the illness and made me dance all over my room. It was a surprise for me. It was a beautiful surprise. I was like ‘oh my god, is this really happening?’ and then the messages started pouring in. The DMs started pouring in. And the moment I read it, I was like ‘omg, this is happening. Laapataa Ladies is trending all over.”

“Everybody is celebrating this. Itna pyaara moment lag raha hai. It’s like a surreal dream. Mumma and I read it together, and the moment we read it, we had our fingers crossed. We wished that our film would be selected for the Oscars and now that we see that it is really happening, we both shed some happy tears,” Nitanshi added.

When asked if she expected the film to perform this well, she humbly acknowledged the hard work of the entire team. “All I remember is that we all as a team gave our everything to this film and worked super hard. All we knew is that hopefully this film will resonate with the audience-not just in India but all over the world-and this is happening. It is like a milestone for Laapataa Ladies. We are just really grateful.”

ICYDK, Laapataa Ladies became the third film from Aamir Khan’s production house (Aamir Khan Productions) to have been submitted as India’s official entry by the Film Federation of India. Previously, Lagaan and Taare Zameen Par were sent as India’s official entries to the Academy Awards.

For the unversed, Laapataa Ladies is based on an award-winning story by Biplab Goswami, with the screenplay and dialogues written by Sneha Desai and Divyanidhi Sharma. The film also stars Sparsh Srivastava, Pratibha Ranta and Ravi Kishan in key roles.

The deadline for submissions for the 96th Academy Awards is November 14, 2024. The shortlist for Best International Feature will be announced on December 17, with the final nominations revealed on January 17, 2025. The Oscars ceremony is scheduled to take place on March 2, 2025.