Last week, the Film Federation of India selected Santosh Davakhar’s Marathi thriller Gondhal as the country’s official entry for the Best International Feature category at the 99th Academy Awards, scheduled to take place on March 14 next year in Los Angeles, California. However, just a couple of days after that, another Indian film has qualified for the same Oscars race — Naga filmmaker Theja Rio’s Angh.

Can more than one India films be eligible for Oscars race?

Although Indian producers are free to apply for various other categories directly at the Academy Awards, and compete in the race to a coveted trophy, the rules of qualification for the Best International Feature were quite clear till last year. Only the film officially picked as the country’s Oscars entry qualifies for the shortlist for that category.

For instance, Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound was selected as India’s official Oscars entry last year, and even made it to the shortlist for the Best International Feature at the 98th Academy Awards earlier this year. However, it couldn’t make the final cut, and secure an official nomination in the category.

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Last year, another Indian co-production — Sandhya Suri’s police procedural Santosh, starring Shahana Goswami, was also in the Oscars race for a place in the Best International Feature category. While the film never saw light of the day in Indian cinemas, it was selected as the official Oscars entry by the United Kingdom, since it was an international co-production between India, the UK, Germany, and France.

But there have been several films, which without being selected as India’s official Oscars entry, have qualified for other categories at the Academy Awards over the years. These notably include Kartiki Gonsalves’ 2022 Netflix documentary short The Elephant Whisperers, Rayka Zehtabchi’s 2018 documentary short Period. End of Sentence., and even the track “Naatu Naatu” from SS Rajamouli’s 2022 blockbuster period action epic RRR, which all won Oscars in their respective categories.

How are two Indian films in the Oscars race this year?

However, earlier this year in May, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced some revisions to the eligibility criteria for some of the categories. It expanded the scope of the Best International Category by stating that starting next year, films from countries outside of the US can be eligible for the category even if they’re not picked as the official entry by their respective countries.

The qualifying criteria in that case is that the film will have to win a top jury prize at major international film festivals like Berlin, Busan, Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, and Venice. Angh, the Nagaland-set film, was the only Indian film this year to have its world premiere at Platform, the competitive section dedicated to distinctive director-driven cinema, at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

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Angh outperformed 11 other films from across the globe to win the coveted top prize of the Platform section on Sunday. Thus, as per the revised eligibility criteria of the Academy, it’s also in the running for the Best International Feature category at the 99th Oscars next year, along with India’s official entry, Gondhal. Both films will also compete with each other in the coming months to secure a place in the final nominations.

Angh is set against the backdrop of Nagaland in the 1960s. Written and directed by Rio, Angh marks the filmmaker’s first feature after a string of internationally screened and award-winning short films. Originally conceived as a short film years ago, the film was finally developed into a feature before it qualified for the Platform section at TIFF this year.