Gondhal Is India's Oscar Entry for 2027 — and Where to Stream Every Indian Entry Since Court

Gondhal is set during the gondhal, a night-long folk ritual of drumming and devotional performance in rural Maharashtra. Suman, a woman trapped in an abusive marriage, uses the ritual to plot her husband's murder and her escape with her lover. Ishita Deshmukh plays Suman, opposite Kishor Kadam and Yogesh Sohoni, and Ilaiyaraaja composed the score. Santosh Davakhar won the Silver Peacock for Best Director when the film premiered at the 56th International Film Festival of India in Goa.

Neeraj Ghaywan's second feature follows two friends from a north Indian village, played by Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa, whose ambition to join the police runs into caste and religion. It premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2025, made the Academy's shortlist of 15, and missed the final five. It is on Netflix.

Kiran Rao's comedy about two brides who get swapped on a train did modest business in cinemas and reached a much bigger audience after it arrived on Netflix. It did not make the shortlist. It is still on Netflix, where it is listed under its international title, Lost Ladies.

Jude Anthany Joseph's ensemble drama about the 2018 Kerala floods, with Tovino Thomas leading a cast of ordinary people turned rescuers. It was the second Malayalam film India had sent in four years, after Jallikattu. It streams on SonyLIV.

Pan Nalin's semi-autobiographical Gujarati film about a boy in rural Saurashtra who falls for the cinema. It was the closest India came in this period before Homebound: shortlisted, but not nominated, at the same ceremony where RRR's Naatu Naatu won Best Original Song. It is on Netflix.

Koozhangal in Tamil. P. S. Vinothraj's debut follows an alcoholic father and his young son on a long walk home across a parched landscape. It won the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam film festival in 2021 and was produced by Nayanthara and Vignesh Shivan. It is on SonyLIV.

Lijo Jose Pellissery's film about a buffalo that escapes slaughter in a Kerala hill village and the mob that hunts it, which turns into something much darker. It streams on aha.

Zoya Akhtar's film about a Mumbai street rapper, starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, and the most commercial entry in this list. That year's winner was Parasite. In India it is currently available to rent or buy only, not on a subscription service.

Rima Das's Assamese film about a girl in a flood-prone village who wants to start a rock band, made almost single-handedly: Das wrote, directed, shot, edited and produced it. It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. It is not streaming in India in our data.

Amit V. Masurkar's comedy stars Rajkummar Rao as an election officer determined to run a fair poll in a Maoist-affected jungle in Chhattisgarh. It is on Prime Video.

Vetrimaaran's Tamil film about migrant workers tortured into confessing to a crime they did not commit, adapted from M. Chandrakumar's account of his own custody, Lock Up. It premiered at Venice. In India it is currently rental-only.

Chaitanya Tamhane's Marathi debut, about an elderly folk singer tried for supposedly driving a sewer worker to suicide with a song, is a patient and very dry study of how the Indian legal system grinds. It won the top Orizzonti prize at Venice and the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. It is the last Marathi film India sent before Gondhal, and it is not streaming in India in our data.