- Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar films were considered but not selected for India's Oscar entry
- Jury felt Dhurandhar films did not adequately represent Indian culture for Oscar submission
- Marathi film Gondhal was chosen as India's official entry for the 2027 Best International Feature Film
Ranveer Singh-starrer Dhurandhar and its sequel Dhurandhar: The Revenge were among the films considered by the jury to represent India at the 2027 Academy Awards. But despite the two films being among the year's biggest Hindi releases, neither made it to the final selection. One of the Jury member Vivek Vaswani has now revealed why.
Vaswani told NDTV jury did not consider Dhurandhar or Dhurandhar: The Revenge to be Oscar contenders. He also said the films did not represent Indian culture in the way the jury was looking for while deciding India's official submission.
The voting numbers offer another insight into the jury's decision. When asked how many votes Dhurandhar received out of the 14-member jury, Vaswani said the film got only four votes.
The comments come after the Film Federation of India announced Marathi film Gondhal as India's official entry for the 2027 Oscars in the Best International Feature Film category. Directed and written by Santosh Davakhar, Gondhal emerged from a field comprising 14 Hindi films, four Marathi films, four Telugu films, three Gujarati films, three Tamil films, one Malayalam film one Nepali film and one film from Nagaland.
The jury's final three films were Gondhal, Angh and Maine Vaapas Aayunga, with Gondhal eventually being selected.
Set against the backdrop of Maharashtra's traditional Gondhal ritual and folk-performance form, Gondhal is a thriller/drama but it is culturally very rich and represents India's culture which was one of the big reason why it made the mark.
The film stars Kishor Kadam, Ishita Deshmukh, Yogesh Sohoni, Nishad Bhoir and Anuj Prabhu, with music by Ilaiyaraaja just elevated the whole experience of watching this film.
The choice also gives Marathi cinema another shot at representing India on the international stage. Three Marathi films have previously been selected as India's official Oscar entries: Shwaas in 2004, Harishchandrachi Factory in 2009 and Court in 2015.
For Dhurandhar, however, the jury's reasoning was not about its popularity or commercial success. The deciding consideration, as described by Vaswani, was whether the film could work as India's representative on the Oscar platform and reflect the cultural identity the jury was seeking.
The Academy's International Feature Film category is ultimately a global competition, but the first decision is India's: which film should be submitted as the country's official representative. This year, the jury's answer was Gondhal but that doesn't mean Dhurandhar's or Main Vaapas Ayunga is out of the Oscar race. They can still apply separately just like RRR did and even won an Oscar.
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