Maidaan director Amit Sharma on Laapataa Ladies' selection for Oscars 2025: 'Hope it wins' | EXCLUSIVE

Indian filmmaker Amit Sharma, who has helmed projects like National Award-winning film Badhaai Hoand Tevaramong others, is on cloud nine with the achievements of his recent offering, Maidaan. The movie revolving around the life and times of Syed Abdul Rahim, a pioneering football coach in India between 1952 and 1962, won the prestigious Best Asian Film Award at the Septimius Awards 2024 in Amsterdam.

"It's a proud moment, and it's for all of us. It is not Maidaan, it's the best Indian film in the whole of Asia. That's a bigger term and when an Indian film gets an award, competing with the whole of Asia, I just wanted to flaunt our Indian flag at that moment..." said the filmmaker in an exclusive interview with WION.

"I actually saw all the nominations over there on the screen - just before announcing the award. Then the announcement happened," said Sharma. "Nobody knew who I was. But then after I had the award in my hand, everybody wanted to know me," he said, adding, "They were coming from all over the world. So,in my heart, I wanted it. I wasn't expecting it and I was expecting it at the same time."

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The Lust Stories 2director also revealed a little about his conversation with Cuba Gooding Junior at the award ceremony. "He came to me and he said, you know, 'I've heard of Bollywood. I have seen some things, but, you know, all the films are music, dance and all that, and I've heard of this film. But I saw the saw trailer, it's on football.' So he said, 'even I got the award - let's click a picture together. Let's do cheers!" Sharma added that while people at the award ceremony weren't expecting an Indian film to take home the trophy, many of them reached out to him after watching Maidaanand appreciated his work.

While Maidaan, starring Ajay Devgn, Priyamani and Gajraj Rao, received rave reviews, the film didn't score as well at the box office, and Sharma makes no bones about sharing that he wasn't happy with the movie's performance at the ticket windows.

"I was not very happy with the kind of numbers the film did. I was expecting more - because the kind of film it was, the feel it was giving on the big screen when you have Ajay Devgn, Gajraj Rao and Priyamani on your side," he said. Notably, the sports drama's subsequent release on OTT gave the film a bigger viewing window and many reached out to the filmmaker expressing how much they liked the film.

"It took about five and a half years to make that film. But the kind of reviews I got for the film, like everybody wrote amazing about this. I got so many calls... So, appreciation is the biggest award and it compensated for that," he shared.

Maidaanwas also amongst the films submitted in the race to become India's official entry for Oscars 2025. With Laapataa Ladiesbeing announced as the Film Federation of India's pick, Sharma said, "I don't have to say anything about it - the selectors have selected the film. They must have thought about it. Everybody was expecting their film going for Oscars and even I was expecting that. But the selectors must have thought about it and only then taken the decision."

When asked if Maidaanwill be submitted as an individual entry, Sharma said he would have a conversation with his producers and added, "I think this is the kind of story which will resonate with the world. Firstly, it's on a sport which is played by the whole world. Then it's an underdog story and nobody knows that India was so good in football at that time. Let's see what everybody collectively decides and takes this call." The director, however, has only good things to say about the movie revolving around two lost brides. "It is a wonderful film. I really liked it. So a big congratulations to Kiran Rao. It's a fantastic film, superb film."

Sharma, who was also elected to the Cannes Lions Craft Jury in 2016, explained how the perception towards Indian films is now changing. "The discrimination of how Indian films are treated or perceived outside India - it's important to break that. Because that is something which you need to tell them - the kind of emotions we carry, the western culture is not like that. Their emotion is dry. We are big on family, culture and expressing our feelings - things that might be considered loud otherwise. So, when an Indian film makes the cut, everyone takes notice," he explained.

The director-producer also shed light on India's performance at the Oscars over the years. "In the past, films like 'Lagaan' have made it to Academy Awards, and it should have won, but the competition is so huge. We have to make, produce and direct the kind of films that can actually go and compete to win an Oscar because we haven't received an Oscar for a film yet... We got for Naatu Naatu, but not for the film. The western mindset is also changing for Indian films - example is in front of us - so now it's our responsibility also that we make those kinds of films and we enter those films. It can be in any language, not just Hindi. It can be Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada or any other language. We have such a vast culture - we should promote and send those films for competition. The main thing is Indian film winning -teri nahi, meri nahi, India ki film jeetni chaiye - that's the most important thing. I am really hoping Laapataa Ladieswins at the Academy Awards," he opined.

At a time when re-releasing old films is helping the Indian box office make its way out of a slump, the filmmaker-producer is positive that good films which may not have worked during their initial release will get their due now. "Some of the good films that did not do too well at the time, like some of them are performing even better than their first release. 'Tumbbad', for example, I don't follow collections as such, but somebody told me the film broke its lifetime collection record in the first week only. It's good appreciation for the makers," he said, adding, that it's also a positive sign that people are returning to cinema halls for the big-screen experience.

Up next, Sharma is juggling between two subjects - one of which is a war film that he's certain he'd make one day. "I have always wanted to make a war film - I've loved watching war films since I was a kid - it was always on my wishlist. I'll definitely make a war film - whether it's made now or in 2-3 years. I don't want to see what the trend is, I want to do things that excite me... Also, you need to get the actors - so for whichever film I find the cast, I will make that first," he signed off.