In what is being seen as a landmark moment for Marathi cinema and a significant step toward putting it on the global map, India has picked a regional film to represent the country at the 99th Academy Awards. On Friday, September 18, 2026, the Film Federation of India announced that the Marathi film Gondhal has been selected as India’s official entry for the 99th Academy Awards, set to take place in March 2027. The film was picked from a shortlist of 33 films vying for the Best International Feature Film category.
The shortlist featured films across multiple languages, including Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam, and even included a silent film among the entries. From Hindi cinema alone, 14 films made the list, among them Main Vaapas Aaunga, Border 2, Dug Dug, Dhurandhar, Haq, Balan The Boy, Deool Band 2 and Shape of Momo.
The selection was made by a jury chaired by P Sheshadri, with members including Vijay Patkar, Hutu Kanodia, Shanti Kumar, Sandeep Parashar, Sanjay Patil, Sabu Joseph, Anil Thomas, Vivek Vaswani, Bijon Dasgupta, Haasan, Vasan and Tannishtha Chatterjee.
Rooted deeply in Maharashtra’s traditional Gondhal ritual and folk-performance heritage, the film has drawn strong praise from both critics and audiences. Ahead of its Oscar selection, director Davakhar had already won the Silver Peacock for Best Director for the film at the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in 2025.
Directed by Davakhar, Gondhal released in theatres in November 2025. Despite the acclaim it is now receiving, its theatrical run collected only around Rs 90 lakh at the box office. The film’s cast includes Ishita Deshmukh, Yogesh Sohoni, Kishor Kadam, Suresh Vishwakarma, Nishad Bhoir, Anuj Prabhu and Vitthal Kale.
Running 117 minutes, the Marathi film unfolds over the course of a single night and follows Suman, a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage to the wealthy Anand. Suman is in love with Saheba, a Gondhali performer, and begins plotting to leave her marriage. However, their plan sets off a dangerous chain of events involving Anand’s obsessive cousin Sarjerao, as what starts as an attempt to escape spirals into murder, deception, desire and survival.
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