Gondhal: The Marathi Thriller India Sent to the Oscars

Gondhal, a Marathi film directed by Santosh Davakhar, is India's official entry for the 99th Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category. The Film Federation of India announced the choice on Sept. 18, picking it from 33 submissions. What the film is, who made it and what comes next are set out below.

The announcement

The Indian Express reported that the Film Federation of India announced the decision at a press conference in Mumbai. Variety India says the jury head P. Seshadri made the announcement. The film was selected from 33 entries, and the 99th Academy Awards are scheduled for March 14, 2027, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Gondhal is the fourth Marathi film chosen as India's Oscar entry. The Indian Express lists the earlier three as Shwaas (2005), Harishchandrachi Factory (2009) and Court (2015). Gondhal will now enter the Academy's selection process, which leads to a shortlist of 15 films and then five nominees.

The film

The Indian Express says Gondhal is a Marathi thriller drawn from Maharashtra's traditional Gondhal ritual and folk-performance tradition, set in rural Maharashtra over a single night during the midnight ritual. It centres on Suman, a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage to a wealthy man, Anand. She falls in love with Saheba, a Gondhali performer, and her plan to escape draws in Anand's obsessive cousin, Sarjerao, in what the report calls a story of murder, deception, desire and survival.

The cast is led by Ishita Deshmukh as Suman, with Kishor Kadam, Yogesh Sohoni, Nishad Bhoir and Anuj Prabhu. Variety India says the film was scored by Ilaiyaraaja, with Amalendu Chaudhary as cinematographer and Ashish Mhatre as editor, and that it runs about two hours. It was released on Nov. 14, 2025.

Screen Daily describes it as a drama thriller in which a joyful wedding party turns sinister on a single night, and says it is the feature debut of Davakhar and premiered in competition at Goa in 2025.

Festival and box office record

The Indian Express says Davakhar won the Silver Peacock for Best Director at the 56th International Film Festival of India in 2025. It also says the film had a modest run at the box office after its theatrical release in November 2025.

India's Oscar record

According to the same report, only three Indian submissions have been nominated in the category: Mehboob Khan's Mother India, Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay and Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan. It adds that Deepa Mehta's Water was nominated but represented Canada. The Film Federation of India's own list of submissions, which runs back decades, shows the language mix of past entries, with Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Marathi films all represented.

Last year's entry, Neeraj Ghaywan's Homebound, did not make the Academy's shortlist, according to the Indian Express.

Why it matters

The selection puts a modest-grossing regional film in front of an international jury. The Indian Express notes that the choice marks the fourth Marathi film to represent the country. Whether it advances is for the Academy to decide, and the shortlist will not be announced until later.

What we could not confirm

We could not confirm the film's festival history beyond what the Indian Express and Screen Daily report. We could not confirm the box office figures for the film, which the Indian Express describes only as modest. We have not seen the film. The Indian Express says it released in November 2025 and Variety India gives Nov. 14, 2025.

Sources

*Cover photo: V.P.knocker, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kishor_kadam.jpg*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kishor_kadam.jpg)* (CC BY-SA 4.0).*