'Laapataa Ladies' picked as India's entry for Oscars
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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Delhi court extends gangster Anmol Bishnoi's NIA custody by 7 days
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court on Friday extended the NIA custody of deported gangster Anmol Bishnoi by seven more days.
Special Judge Prashant Sharma ordered the extension during a hearing conducted at the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) headquarters here amid high security.
The hearing was not conducted at the designated court in the Patiala House courts as the NIA cited a high security risk to Bishnoi because of threats given by Pakistani gangster Shahzad Bhatti.
Sources said the agency sought the extension of Anmol's custody by seven more days on the ground of conducting further probe, which the judge allowed.
Wanted in connection with the killing of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddique, firing at actor Salman Khan's residence in April 2024, the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, among other crimes, Anmol was "removed" from the United States on November 18.
He was detained in the US in November last year.
After being produced before a special judge in the Patiala House courts on November 18, he was sent to the NIA's custody for 11 days.
On November 29, Anmol, the brother and a close aide of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, was sent for further custodial interrogation till December 5.
Absconding since 2022, US-based Anmol is the 19th accused to be arrested for involvement in the terror-gangster syndicate led by his jailed brother.
