DigitEye India Fact Checkers
Claim: The Film Federation of India has selected ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’ as one of the official entries from India for the Oscars.
Conclusion: Misleading. ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’ was one of the entries submitted to FFI but ‘Laapataa Ladies’ has been chosen as India’s official entry to Oscars.
Rating: Misleading — 
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The official submission of any Indian film for the Oscars has remained a prominent feat for the filmmakers, generating enough speculation around it. This year, a claim has gone viral that the biopic ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’ has been officially selected for submission for the Oscars by the Film Federation of India.
#जयोस्तुते 🙏🏻🚩
The Film Federation of India has selected Swatantrya Veer Savarkar as one of the official entries from India for the Oscars 2024. Producers Anand Pandit, Sandeep Singh, & Randeep Hooda are overjoyed by this recognition and shared their excitement. pic.twitter.com/uKztAKKOAW— Ashutosh Wagh (@AshutoshPWagh) September 28, 2024
The claim reads: “The Film Federation of India has selected Swatantrya Veer Savarkar as one of the official entries from India for the Oscars 2024. Producers Anand Pandit, Sandeep Singh, & Randeep Hooda are overjoyed by this recognition and shared their excitement.”
Swatantrya Veer Savarkar is a film on Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, which was a directorial debut by Randeep Hooda and released on March 22, 2024. Another claim reads: “Honored and humbled! Our film SwatantryaVeer Savarkar has officially been submitted for the Oscars. Thank You FILM FEDERATION OF INDIA for this remarkable appreciation. This journey has been incredible, and we are immensely grateful to everyone who has supported us along the way…”
Soon, the claim has been shared on social media and can be accessed here, here and here.
FACT CHECK
When we checked the news related to te Oscar entry of “Swatantrya Veer Savarkar”, we came across the full list of films submitted to Film Federation of India’s call for entries and it did include the name of “Swatantrya Veer Savarkar” as seen below: 
However, before the Film Federation announced the official entry on Sept. 23, 2024, false claims have surfaced on social media stating that the film ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’ has been selected for 2024 Oscars. In fact, the selection is for 2025 Oscar nominations and not for 2024, which had been awarded in March 2024.
The Film Federation of India (FFI) president Ravi Kottakara had also clarified, “The makers of Savarkar have given wrong communication. I am going to release a statement about.” soon after his statement, the FFI made the official announcement on Sept 23 about the selection of ‘Laapataa Ladies’ as the official entry for India’s submission to Oscars 2025 in the Best International Feature Film category.
Hence, the film directed by Kiran Rao will be India’s official entry to Oscars or the 97th Academy Awards ceremony to be held on Sunday, March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Deeply honored and delighted for #LaapataaLadies to be chosen as India’s official entry to #Oscars2025 pic.twitter.com/HVAk90NNMU
— Aamir Khan Productions (@AKPPL_Official) September 23, 2024
Oscar Rules & Selection
Under the Oscars Best International Film category, each country can submit only one film and the selection has to be made by an approved organization. For India, the Film Federation of India (FFI) is the officially recognised authority to submit the entry on behalf of India. Apart from this, any film maker from anywhere in the world can independently submit a film to the Academy under a private category. But this will not be considered the country’s official submission.
Hence, ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’ is not India’s “official” entry for the 97th Academy Awards. The claim is misleading.
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