Oscars 2027: Marathi Thriller Gondhal Gets Selected As India’s Official Entry From 33 Films

It is an incredibly proud moment for India’s regional cinema to bag its entry in the Oscars 2027, beating Bollywood’s biggest blockbuster “Dhurandhar.” On Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, the Film Federation of India announced the Marathi film “Gondhal” as India’s official entry for the 99th Academy Awards. The award ceremony is scheduled to take place in March 2027.

Penned and directed by Santosh Davakhar, the film has been selected for the Best International Feature Film Category from a total of 33 submissions. Here’s more!

India Officially Enters Oscars 2027 with Marathi Film Gondhal

“Gondhal” previously won the Silver Peacock Award at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2025. The submissions included 14 Hindi films, while Marathi, Telugu, and Gujarati cinema had four entries each. From Hindi films, Main Vaapas Aaunga, Border 2, Dug Dug, Dhurandhar, Haq, Balan The Boy, Deool Band 2, and Shape of Momo, and others, made it to the list of 14 entries. The Marathi movie was 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. Though “Dhurandhar” was a box office success, the jury didn’t consider it to be Oscar-worthy.

Here’s the trailer of the film.

Directed by Davakhar, “Gondhal” was released on Nov. 14, 2025. Starring Ishita Deshmukh, Yogesh Sohoni, Kishor Kadam, Suresh Vishwakarma, Nishad Bhoir, Anuj Prabhu, and Vitthal Kale in pivotal roles, the film is deeply rooted in Maharashtra’s traditional Gondhal ritual and folk-performance tradition. Following its entry in the Oscars 2027, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis extended heartfelt wishes to the team of “Gondhal.” 

मराठी चित्रपटसृष्टीसाठी अभिमानाचा क्षण! 🎬 दिग्दर्शक संतोष डावखर यांच्या ‘गोंधळ’ या मराठी चित्रपटाची ऑस्कर 2027 साठी भारताची अधिकृत प्रवेशिका म्हणून निवड झाली आहे. फिल्म फेडरेशन ऑफ इंडियाच्या निवड समितीने 33 चित्रपटांमधून ‘गोंधळ’ची निवड केली असून, महाराष्ट्राच्या समृद्ध… pic.twitter.com/1KEdqwIao7 — CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) September 18, 2026

The 99th Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on March 14, 2027, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.