Just a day ago, the Marathi folklore film Gondhal was announced as India’s official entry to the Oscars 2027 on Friday, September 18, 2026. While the makers have been receiving praise and congratulatory messages for the film’s big achievement, jury member Vivek Vaswani has now revealed what led to the film becoming the choice for the Oscars among 32 other films, including the box-office blockbuster hit Dhurandhar and Imtiaz Ali’s Main Vaapas Aaunga.

Vivek recently shared that Imtiaz Ali directed Main Vaapas Aaunga, starring Vedang Raina, Sharvari, Diljit Dosanjh, and Naseeruddin Shah, was in the running, but they did not go ahead with it because they felt that the India–Pakistan angle might not resonate with an American audience.

Vivek was a member of the 14-person Film Federation of India jury that approved Gondhal as India’s official entry for the 99th Academy Awards. During a chat with NDTV, he shared details about the selection process, mentioning that the jury was given clear instructions on the basis on which they had to select a film.

Vivek said, “The film has to represent Indian culture and tradition in such a way that it has global appeal. So we’re talking about a film that is Indian and global. This one was.”

Speaking about what led to Santosh Davakhar-directed Gondhal’s selection, he shared about the film’s uniqueness: “It’s a night of intrigue; it’s a night of murder. But that whole night is a festival, and the whole night they sing and dance. So the entire intrigue and suspense of the screenplay was covered in a layer of music and dance, which is completely Indian because it is set in a remote village in Maharashtra.”

And further added, “And then they called Ilaiyaraaja to do the music. It just made the film unique. And it is very important for anything that we send to the Oscars to be completely unique.”

Why Main Vaapas Aaunga Was Not Selected

Speaking on why Main Vaapas Aaunga didn’t make it to the selection, Vivek shared that despite the film being approved for the category, it didn’t receive enough votes during the selection.

Reason Behind Dhurandhar Not Chosen

Dhurandhar, directed by Aditya Dhar and starring Ranveer Singh, Sara Arjun, Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, and others, was on the list, but the film received just four votes, Vivek shared. He said, “A couple of people liked it, but we didn’t think that it was Oscar material.”