Santosh Davakhar's Marathi thriller Gondhal has been chosen by the Film Federation of India as the country's entry for the 99th Academy Awards. The production, featuring performances from Ishita Deshmukh, Nishad Bhoir, and Yogesh Sohoni, opened in cinemas during 2025.
Following the announcement of the official selection, Gondhal performer Ishita Deshmukh shared her thoughts with a television news outlet about how she received the news. Describing her initial response, Deshmukh explained that it had been an ordinary Friday during Ganpati season, with Gauri festivities taking place at home and guests arriving, to whom she was distributing haldi, kumkum, and other traditional offerings.
A stream of phone calls and text notifications began arriving. Deshmukh described an initial sense of confusion that quickly gave way to the realisation that the development was of considerable scale, adding that in the initial hours there was little awareness that events were genuinely taking place, and recalling asking what the matter was.
When the flood of messages and media attention arrived, Deshmukh said a disorienting disconnect took hold, even for someone who had long harboured personal goals. She noted that watching events play out as they happen can blur the line between what is objectively occurring and what the mind struggles to process as real. She added that the development left her feeling a sense of humility.
Regarding the significance of the achievement for the Marathi film industry, Deshmukh noted that Marathi cinema had already established a notable presence on the international stage, pointing out that Gondhal is not the first Marathi-language film to receive such recognition. She said the portrayal reflects how Marathi culture encompasses a heritage of long-standing traditions, oral histories, and consequential decisions taken across generations.
Deshmukh described the present period as a promising phase for regional cinema, including the Marathi film industry, noting that the film has been chosen as the country's official Oscar submission. She said narratives grounded in authentic cultural experience tend to carry a resonance that broader audiences can recognise and respond to, and that emotional experience proves universal across humanity even as cultural practices and social customs differ from one place to another.
Deshmukh said Gondhal carries a range of human emotions that audiences can relate to, and that communication across different languages and differences in shared heritage present no obstacle to understanding. She said storytelling and filmmaking offer a pathway to exploring diverse cultures across the globe while connecting audiences through a shared human experience.
