Gondhal is India's official Oscar entry: All you need to know about the Maharashtrian movie

The film will compete in the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.

Last year, Gondhal director Santosh Davakhar won the Silver Peacock Award at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2025.

What is Gondhal about?

During IFFI, Davakhar explained that the film is deeply rooted in Gondhal folklore, a traditional Maharashtrian art form that he described as “a culture slowly disappearing before our eyes.”

For the filmmaker, Gondhal is more than a thriller; it is also an attempt to preserve a fading cultural tradition.

“We tried to hold on to a tradition that is fading,” he said. “There are countless rural cultural elements in Maharashtra, and Gondhal is one of its most powerful expressions. Despite all the obstacles during production, our team believed in protecting that heritage.”

Actor Kishor Kadam also drew on his personal memories of the tradition.

“I grew up taking part in Gondhal in my village. This isn’t just a dance, it’s a community coming alive,” he recalled.

He also remembered the all-night performances in which villagers gathered to pray and celebrate together.

Set against the backdrop of the midnight carnival of ritualistic Gondhal music and dance in rural Maharashtra, the film follows Suman, a woman trapped in a gilded marriage to the affluent Anand.

Suman plots a dangerous escape, driven by her forbidden love for Saheba, a charismatic Gondhali performer.

As the ritual reaches its climax, Suman cunningly manipulates Anand’s obsessive cousin, Sarjerao, into committing the act she is unable to carry out herself.

Amid pounding drums and ancestral invocations, Suman attempts to break free, with her fate becoming increasingly intertwined with Saheba’s.

On this charged night, devotion collides with deception, while the boundaries between salvation and damnation begin to blur, culminating in a dramatic verdict marked by fire, blood and awe.