&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Marathi film Gondhal is India's official entry for Oscars 2027")
Seen as one of the biggest moments for Marathi cinema and paving the way for it on a global stage, India has chosen a regional film to represent the country at the 99th Academy Awards. On Friday, September 18, 2026, the Film Federation of India announced Marathi film Gondhal as India's official entry for the 99th Academy Awards, scheduled for March 2027. It was chosen from 33 films shortlisted for the Best International Feature Film category.
The list has films from several languages, including Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malyalam, and in the movies, the shortlist spanned several Indian languages and even included a silent film.
From Hindi films, it has 14 entries: Main Vaapas Aaunga, Border 2, Dug Dug, Dhurandhar, Haq, Balan The Boy, Deool Band 2 and Shape of Momo, among others. The movie has been chosen by the jury chaired by P Sheshadri and included Vijay Patkar, Hutu Kanodia, Shanti Kumar, Sandeep Parashar, Sanjay Patil, Sabu Joseph, Anil Thomas, Vivek Vaswani, Bijon Dasgupta, Haasan, Vasan and Tannishtha Chatterjee.
Deeply rooted in Maharashtra's traditional Gondhal ritual and folk-performance tradition, the movie has earned rave reviews from the critics and audience alike. Before being chosen as an Oscar submission, the director of the movie, Davakhar, won the Silver Peacock for Best Director for the film at the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in 2025.
Directed by Davakhar, the film was released in November 2025. While it is being celebrated now, its theatrical run earned only around Rs. 90 lakh. The film also stars Ishita Deshmukh, Yogesh Sohoni, Kishor Kadam, Suresh Vishwakarma, Nishad Bhoir, Anuj Prabhu, and Vitthal Kale.
The 117-minute Marathi film unfolds over a single night and follows Suman, a woman, who is in an unhappy marriage to Anand, a wealthy man. She's in love with Saheba, a Gondhali performer, and begins planning to leave her marriage. However, their plan has led Anand's obsessive cousin Sarjerao into a dangerous plot. What begins as an escape leads to murder, deception, desire and survival.
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