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Oscars 2025: India wins just 10 times in the nine decades of Oscars legacy

Bhanu Athaiya was the first Indian to win an Oscar. She won the Oscar for Best Costume Design for Gandhi in 1983. Since then, only nine more wins have come to India in the last forty years.

Despite producing a large volume of cinemas every year, India has a nominal presence on the global stage when it comes to the Academy Awards, popularly known as the ‘Oscars.’ In the nine decades of the legacy of the Oscars since 1927, India managed to bag the Oscars just 10 times so far. Across various categories, including technical awards.

Winning Moments of India at the Oscars

Bhanu Athaiya – First Indian to win an Oscar (Best Costume Design, Gandhi, 1983).
Satyajit Ray – Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement (1992).
A.R. Rahman, Gulzar & Resul Pookutty – Slumdog Millionaire (2009) wins Best Original Score, Best Song, and Best Sound Mixing.
Guneet Monga’s Period. End of Sentence. – Best Documentary Short (2019).
Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh’s Writing With Fire – Best Documentary Feature Nominee (2022).
Naatu Naatu (RRR) – Best Original Song (2023).
Rahul Chandrakant Thakkar, Cottalango Leon (2016), and Vikas Vinay Sathaye (2018): Academy Award for scientific and technical achievement

Why is India’s Presence So Limited?

Several factors contribute to India's nominal presence at the Academy Awards. Selection Process & Lack of Strategy is one of these. The Film Federation of India (FFI) is responsible for selecting the official Indian entry for the Best International Feature Film category. However, the selection has often been criticized for overlooking films that could resonate globally. On several occasions, FFI ended up selecting the wrong entries, overlooking those who had the potential to win.

For instance, in 2013, despite receiving widespread acclaim from audiences and critics, Lunchbox was not selected as the official entry for the 86th Academy Awards. The Good Road was chosen over The Lunchbox.

Mismatch in Storytelling & Jury Preferences

Indian cinema often focuses more on commercial and culturally specific storytelling, which may not always connect with Western jury members. The Academy largely prefers socio-political narratives with global relevance.

Dominance of Bollywood vs. Regional Cinema

It is alleged that Bollywood’s commercial approach dominates the regional film industry in India. Despite having rich storytelling, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, etc. films often get overshadowed by Bollywood.

However, the rise of global streaming platforms (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.) is bridging the gap, giving Indian filmmakers wider exposure. It will be interesting to see how the influx of streaming platforms helps Indian cinemas to carve the niche on the global platforms.

While India’s presence at the Oscars remains nominal, the global success of RRR, The Elephant Whisperers, and Naatu Naatu in recent years signals a positive shift. However, consistent recognition requires stronger selection strategies, international marketing, and Hollywood networking.