Oscars 2026: India

After India’s officialOscars 2026 entry— Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound, starring Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa, and Janhvi Kapoor — couldn’t make the cut in the Best International Feature category at the98th Academy Awards, all of the country’s hopes were riding on Indian-American filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir, who became the first woman ever toscore double nominationsin the Best Documentary Feature and the Best Documentary Short categories.

However, she couldn’t win in both the categories.

Geeta Gandbhir and Christalyn Hampton co-directed The Devil Is Busy.

It competed against All the Empty Rooms, Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, Children No More: Were and Are Gone, and Perfectly a Strangeness in the Best Documentary Short segment.

But the makers of All the Empty Rooms ended up winning the Oscar.

In the Best Documentary Feature category, Geeta Gandbhir’s The Perfect Neighbor competed against The Alabama Solution, Come See Me in the Good Light, Cutting through Rocks, and Mr.

Nobody against Putin.

But she lost the Oscar to Mr Nobody Against Putin makers.

ALSO READ | Oscars 2026 Winners LIVE Updates: Sinners, One Battle After Another lock horns one last time; Timothée Chalamet, Michael B Jordan vie for top honours
Geeta’s The Devil Is Busy is a 31-minute film follows Tracii, the head of security at a women’s healthcare clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, over the course of a day as she works to ensure the safety of patients and staff amid tighter abortion restrictions and persistent protests.

On the other hand, The Perfect Neighbor is Netflix documentary that chronicles the shooting incident in June 2023 where a white female, Susan Louise Lorincz, fatally shot her Black female neighbour Ajike Owens in Ocala, Florida.

Gandbhir has also produced the movie along with Alisa Payne, Nikon Kwantu, and Sam Bisbee.

Geeta Gandbhir, a director mentored by Sam Pollard and Spike Lee, was born to Indian parents who emigrated to the US in the 1960s.

She has built a distinguished career in documentary filmmaking over nearly two decades, earning multiple Emmy and Peabody Awards along the way.

Some of her acclaimed projects include I Am Evidence (2017), which exposed systemic delays in processing untested rape kits across the US, and Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (2022), which won industry accolades for its historical depth and narrative strength.

She has also directed the Emmy-winning short Through Our Eyes: Apart in 2022.

Also Read —Oscars 2026 Winners Predictions: Timothee Chalamet’s career-defining performance may clinch Best Actor, but can’t fetch Marty Supreme the Best Picture
Geeta Gandhbir was theonly Indian presenceat the Oscars this year, besides actor Priyanka Chopra who will soon be presenting an award during the ceremony.

Click for more updates and latestHollywood Newsalong withBollywoodandEntertainment updates.

Also getlatest newsand top headlines fromIndiaand around theWorldatThe Indian Express.