India sends Marathi film, not an Oscar yet
Santosh Davakhar’s Gondhal is India’s selected submission for the 99th Academy Awards. The shortlist, nomination and ceremony remain three separate events, because awards season enjoys paperwork.
Gondhal has been selected as India’s submission for the International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.
India has selected Santosh Davakhar’s Marathi film Gondhal for the International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards, according to reports attributing the decision to the Film Federation of India. The film was chosen from 33 submissions. The official FFI announcement was not available in the material reviewed, so the selection remains reported with attribution rather than independently confirmed on the federation’s website.
The film is set in rural Maharashtra and follows Suman, a woman attempting to escape a marriage with the help of Saheba, a Gondhali performer. Davakhar won the Silver Peacock for Best Director at the 56th International Film Festival of India in 2025, according to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
This is India’s selected submission, not an Oscar nomination or win. The Academy’s shortlist is scheduled for December 15, 2026; nominations for January 21, 2027; and the ceremony for March 14. Gondhal now has to clear the Academy’s eligibility process before it can start collecting labels.