Chennai (PTI): Kiran Rao's "Laapataa Ladies" has been picked as India's official entry for Oscars 2025, the Film Federation of India announced here on Monday.

The Hindi film, a light-hearted satire on patriarchy, was chosen from a list of 29 films, including Bollywood hit "Animal", Malayalam National Award winner "Aattam" and Cannes winner "All We Imagine As Light".

The 13-member select committee headed by Assamese director Jahnu Barua unanimously decided on "Laapataa Ladies", produced by Aamir Khan and Rao, for reckoning in the best international film category at the Academy Awards.

Tamil film "Maharaja", Telugu titles "Kalki 2898 AD" and "Hanu-Man", as well as the Hindi films "Swatantraya Veer Savarkar" and "Article 370" were also in the list.

Malayalam superhit "2018: Everyone is a Hero" was sent last year.

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Mangaluru (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker U T Khader on Wednesday sought an inquiry after a large number of Aadhaar cards were found on the banks of the Nethravathi River here.

The cards were found at Farangipete in Pudu village of his Mangaluru Assembly constituency.

Khader, in a note to the Project Manager of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Bengaluru, sought immediate intervention and necessary action against those responsible.

In the note dated March 4, he said that local residents noticed the Aadhaar cards along the riverbank on March 3.

Following information received from the public, the Pudu Gram Panchayat president and villagers collected the Aadhaar cards found scattered in the area. They subsequently brought the matter to his attention and the concerned authorities, he said.

Expressing concern over the incident, the Speaker has directed that a thorough investigation be conducted to ascertain how such a large number of Aadhaar cards ended up on the riverbank and to identify those responsible.

He instructed officials to initiate appropriate legal action through the concerned department at the earliest.