Why no Indian film has ever won Oscars?

It is not just about Bollywood but Indian cinema as a whole.

Why Indian films rarely get global honours like rest of global cinema and do not win even foreign language film awards?

Individually Ray may have got lifetime achievement award and Bhanu Athaiya won for costumes and ARR won for music but why have Indian films failed to win anything at all at global awards?

Is it all mainly about racism or marketing or politics or bias or lobbying or PR or do Indian films indeed lack quality?

Also, is it possible for Indian actors to ever get global awards for acting?

I know many that say only American-born people are going to get the Oscars. But who knows what the truth is? There are many who still believe that Hollywood is ahead of Bollywood in terms of good content.

The films aren’t profound enough

The biggest reason is money. An average Oscar campaign costs north of 25 million dollars. For comparison, Brahmastra's budget was merely 50 million. The cost is just not justifiable for any Bollywood film. I am actually curious as to who is funding RRR's campaign.

The other reason is buzz. Oscar campaigns start as soon as a film is announced. Brendon Fraiser was the frontrunner for the Oscar for best actor, before the film was even completed. Decision to Leave was going to be the Cannes breakout this year as soon as it was announced. That kind of buzz is built over years of award cycles. You don't just go out and win an Oscar the first time you make a good film. Rajamouli would have to do 3-4 rounds of festival circuits before he is a serious contender. But that I guess also comes down to money.

Originally posted by: Maroonporsche

The films aren’t profound enough

Anand Gandhi could easily have been a big bet for Bollywood, but he naturally doesn't have the financial backing to pull it off.

Edit - Bengali cinema in particular has a lot of such directors. Srijit Mukherjee, like Kashyap, is his past his prime, but at his peak was exactly the kind of stylistic director who get famous in international circuits.

Originally posted by: semantic.error

That's true for Bollywood today. But there have been enough Bollywood directors who would easily fit into the standard Oscar mould. Anurag Kashyap is obviously one. Ritesh Batra is another. Aparna Sen, Ketan Mehta, Shyam Benegal. A lot of old Smita Patil movies are exactly the kind of films that win Oscars,

Anand Gandhi could easily have been a big bet for Bollywood, but he naturally doesn't have the financial backing to pull it off.

Edit - Bengali cinema in particular has a lot of such directors. Srijit Mukherjee, like Kashyap, is his past his prime, but at his peak was exactly the kind of stylistic director who get famous in international circuits.

Oh I was just being catty

Someone may think Oscar winners are more profound but I find they lack heart. For me heart is in slapstick comedy

Some blind deaf dumb protagonist sitting in a room alone contemplating meaning of life has never been that impressive to me.

Eddie Murphy in Nutty Professor playing like 7 roles will always be more impressive

Originally posted by: Maroonporsche

Oh I was just being catty

Someone may think Oscar winners are more profound but I find they lack heart. For me heart is in slapstick comedy

Originally posted by: Maroonporsche

Some blind deaf dumb protagonist sitting in a room alone contemplating meaning of life has never been that impressive to me.

Eddie Murphy in Nutty Professor playing like 7 roles will always be more impressive

Originally posted by: semantic.error

As they say, Priyanka could romance a fish in a tank but Sally Hawkins could never romance Harman Baweja 12 times 😆

Forget Indian movies

why didn’t this win an Oscar

https://youtu.be/Il9jJObx7FE