Chhaya Kadam has had a rather eventful year. She grabbed attention for her dance performance at the 77th Cannes International Film Festival with the team of All We Imagine As Light where it was the first film from India to compete in the main competition since 1994 and won the Grand Prix. She also won immense acclaim for her gangster act as a local Konkani smuggler in Madgaon Express. And in Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies, she won hearts as the feminist soothsayer Manju Maai, a woman who runs a tea stall at a railway station.
The final icing on the cake for her is that Laapataa Ladies has become India’s official entry to the Oscars. Amid the Paris premiere of All We Imagine As Light, Chhaya exclusively speaks to News18 Showsha and says that she always had an inkling that Laapataa Ladies would make the cut. “Mera first reaction yeh tha ki yeh toh hona hi tha (laughs)! I was and still am extremely happy. But I knew deep down in my heart that this was inevitable,” she tells us.
In fact, Chhaya reveals that she had spoken to Kiran a day before the big announcement came about and had informed her that their film might just achieve this much-talked-about feat. “Someone at the San Sebastian Film Festival had told me that Laapataa Ladies has been shortlisted for the Oscars. I got very happy and immediately called her and congratulated her. She told me, ‘No no, there’s no such news yet. They’re going to announce the names of the films on September 27.’ Since I was in a no network zone, the call got disconnected,” she recalls.
Chhayaa further adds, “Thereafter, I received a text from her, ‘Do have a good time there. Let’s meet once you’re back.’ I replied back, ‘Thanks, dear. Pan apan Oscar la zaanaar’. That was my last message to me her before we came to know the big news. Once the announcement came about, I texted her again and congratulated her.”
What gives her even more joy is the fact that Laapataa Ladies is a film set against the backdrop of rural India and that it perfectly captures the local spirit of the Indian soil and for that to be recognised at a global level sets a precedent like nothing else. “The audience gave us and the subject of the film so much love. Laapataa Ladies is everyone’s story. It’s a story that gives hope and teaches us to dream. I’m happy that the world will see the Indian-ness of Laapataa Ladies,” she states.
So, is she predicting the film co-starring Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava and Ravi Kishan to being home the Oscar? “To be honest, I’m really excited about this honour because this means that more and more people will get to watch it. But yes, I truly believe that Laapataa Ladies ko Oscar milna chahiye aur andar se lag raha hai ki aisa hi hoga,” she concludes.
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