Bickram Ghosh and Iman Chakraborty’s songs ‘eligible’ for Oscars 2025
This is the percussionist’s second original score to become eligible for the Oscars, following his collaboration with Girish Mallik on ‘Jal’ in 2014
After Kiran Rao’s directorial ‘Laapata Ladies’ was selected as the country’s official entry, now two Indian songs - one in Bengali and the other in Hindi - are eligible in the music categories for Oscars 2025. Among them is ‘Ishq Walla Daku’ from Girish Mallik’s Hindi film ‘Band of Maharajas’ composed by the renowned Bickram Ghosh. This is the percussionist’s second original score to become eligible for the Oscars, following his collaboration with Girish on ‘Jal’ in 2014.
Among the 89 songs and 146 scores listed on the Oscar ballots for ‘Best Original Song’ and ‘Best Original Score’, composer Sayan Ganguly’s ‘Iti Maa’ from Indira Dhar Mukherjee’s Bengali film ‘Putul’ is also in the running. Sung by National Award-winning singer Iman Chakraborty, this marks the first time a Bengali song has entered Oscar’s ‘eligible’ category.
“I initially couldn’t believe the song had made it to such a prestigious list. Sayan always believed in the track and I am grateful to him and the director for entrusting me with this beautiful composition,” said Iman.
Ghosh believes Mallik and he must have ‘done something right’ to make it to the Oscar-eligible category. “Out of countless songs, ours has made it to the eligible list. We must be doing something right. It’s also great to see that the music category is no longer dominated by English-language songs. Last year’s win of ‘Naatu Naatu’ from ‘RRR’ for ‘Best Original Song’ is proof of this shift. Personally, I feel melody and arrangement play a crucial role,” said the renowned percussionist. Ghosh also extended his congratulations to Iman and Sayan, his assistant for 12 years, on their Bengali song making it to the eligible list.
Meanwhile, members of the Oscars music branch can vote for up to 15 songs and 20 scores during the first-round voting from December 9 to December 13. The shortlists will be revealed on December 17, with the song category retaining its 15-spot shortlist and the score category expanding to 20.
