Key Highlights

  • Jury member Vivek Vaswani told NDTV that Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar: The Revenge were not seen as Oscar contenders.
  • Dhurandhar received only 4 votes from the 14-member jury.
  • Marathi film Gondhal was named India's official entry for the 2027 Oscars, chosen from 31 films.
  • The final three were Gondhal, Angh and Main Vaapas Aaunga.
  • Dhurandhar can still explore the Oscars through the Academy's general categories, but not through the International Feature route.


Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar and its sequel, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, were among the biggest Hindi releases of the year. Both were also considered by the jury choosing India's submission for the 2027 Academy Awards. Neither made the final cut.

Jury member Vivek Vaswani has now explained the thinking behind that outcome. Speaking to NDTV, Vaswani said the jury did not see either film as an Oscar contender. He added that the films did not reflect Indian culture in the way the jury wanted from India's official representative.

Only four votes out of 14

The numbers show how far the films were from the top spot. Asked how many votes Dhurandhar received from the 14-member jury, Vaswani said it got just four.

His comments follow the Film Federation of India's announcement that Marathi film Gondhal is India's official entry in the Best International Feature Film category for the 2027 Oscars.

How Gondhal won

Gondhal, written and directed by Santosh Davakhar, was picked from a field of 31 films: 14 Hindi, four Marathi, four Telugu, three Gujarati, three Tamil, and one each in Malayalam, Nepali and a language from Nagaland. The jury's final three were Gondhal, Angh and Main Vaapas Aaunga.

The film is set around Maharashtra's traditional Gondhal ritual and folk-performance form. Vaswani described it as a thriller-drama that is also culturally rich, and said this cultural grounding was a major reason it stood out. The cast includes Kishor Kadam, Ishita Deshmukh, Yogesh Sohoni, Nishad Bhoir and Anuj Prabhu. The music is by Ilaiyaraaja.

Popularity was not the test

The jury's reasoning was not about box-office success or popularity. Vaswani's explanation was that the deciding question was whether a film could represent India on the Oscar stage and reflect the cultural identity the jury was looking for. On that count, Dhurandhar did not convince enough members.

What this means for Marathi cinema

The selection gives Marathi cinema another chance on the world stage. Three Marathi films have been India's official Oscar entries before: Shwaas (2004), Harishchandrachi Factory (2009) and Court (2015). India has so far received three nominations in this category, for Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay! (1988) and Lagaan (2001), and none of them was a Marathi film.

Is Dhurandhar out of the Oscar race?

Not entirely, but the options are narrower than they sound. The International Feature Film category allows only one submission per country, chosen by that country's official committee. So with Gondhal selected, Dhurandhar cannot enter that category independently.

The Academy's general categories work differently. Films that meet the Academy's eligibility and qualifying-release requirements can be considered there, and studios often run their own campaigns. This is the route RRR took. RRR was not India's official entry. It campaigned independently, and "Naatu Naatu" won Best Original Song at the 2023 Oscars. It did not win in the International Feature category.

Whether Dhurandhar's makers pursue that route has not been announced.

Source: NDTV interview with Vivek Vaswani