In a major milestone for regional cinema, the Marathi psychological thriller Gondhal has been chosen as India’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards, the Film Federation of India (FFI) announced on Friday.
Directed and written by filmmaker Santosh Davakhar, the movie explores deep-seated tensions, human vulnerability, and buried truths unfolding over a single night during a traditional Maharashtrian cultural ritual.
Davakhar previously earned widespread acclaim for the project, winning the prestigious Silver Peacock Award at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2025.
Selected from 33 national entries, Gondhal competed against 14 Hindi films, four each in Marathi, Telugu, and Gujarati, three in Tamil, one each in Malayalam and Nagamese, and one silent film.
The jury panel responsible for evaluating the entries was composed of prominent industry professionals, including P Sheshadri, Vijay Patkar, Hutu Kanodia, Shanti Kumar, Sandeep Parashar, Sanjay Patil, Sabu Joseph, Anil Thomas, Vivek Vaswani, Bijon Dasgupta, Haasan, Vasan, and Tannishtha Chatterjee.
The selection follows last year’s entry, Neeraj Ghaywan’s COVID-set drama Homebound, which featured Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa but ultimately failed to advance to the official Oscar longlist.
The 99th edition of the Academy Awards is scheduled to take place on March 14, 2027, at the iconic Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
