Shock for India in Oscar 2026, Indian origin film director Geeta Gandbhir lost two awards

Oscar 2026There were a lot of expectations from India this time at the Oscars, but the results were a bit disappointing. India had chosen Neeraj Ghaywan’s film ‘Homebound’ as its official entry. Artists like Ishaan Khattar, Vishal Jethwa and Jhanvi Kapoor have played lead roles in this film. This film was in the race to get a nomination in the Best International Feature Film category, but unfortunately it could not make it to the final list of nominations. That means this great hope of India got a setback.

Now all eyes were on Indian-American filmmaker Geeta Gandhbir. Geeta had created history this year. She became the first woman to receive nominations in two different documentary categories in the same year. He received one nomination for Best Documentary Feature, and the other for Best Documentary Short. This was a huge achievement, because no woman had been able to do this before.

Geeta Gandhbir worked on two films:

‘The Devil is Busy’ (The Devil Is Busy) – This is a short documentary film, which is only 31 minutes long. It was directed by Geeta along with Crystalline Hampton. The film shows a day in the life of Tracy, the security in-charge of a women’s health clinic in the city of Atlanta in the US state of Georgia. There are strict laws on abortion and protests take place daily. Tracy takes full care of the safety of the patients coming to the clinic and the staff working there. This film shows women’s rights and challenges very closely. In this category, it was competing with other films like ‘All the Empty Rooms’, ‘Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud’, ‘Children No More: Where and Are Gone’ and ‘Perfectly a Strangeness’. But the victory went to the team of ‘All the Empty Rooms’. This film of Geeta did not win.

‘The Perfect Neighbor’ (The Perfect Neighbor) – This is a long documentary available on Netflix. It is based on a tragic incident that occurred in June 2023 in the city of Ocala, Florida. Susan Louise Lorincz, a white woman, shot and killed her black neighbor Ajay Owens (known as AJ). The film explains the entire incident through police body camera footage, interrogation videos and witness statements. Geeta co-produced this film with Alisa Payne, Nicon Quantu and Sam Bisbee. In this category, its competition was with films like ‘The Alabama Solution’, ‘Come See Me in the Good Light’, ‘Cutting Through Rocks’ and ‘Mr. Nobody Against Putin’. But here too Geeta had to face defeat. The team of ‘Mr Nobody Against Putin’ got the victory.

Who is Geeta Gandhibir?

Geeta Gandhibir is of Indian origin. His parents came to America from India in the 1960s. After settling there he started a family. Geeta has earned a lot of name in the field of documentary films in the last 20 years. He has won many Emmy Awards and Peabody Awards. Some of his famous movies are:

‘I Am Evidence’ (2017)– In which the delay in investigating evidence in rape cases in America and the flaws in the system were exposed.

‘Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power’ (2022)– It was a film with a historical and strong story, which was highly praised.

‘Through Our Eyes: Apart’ (2022) – This was also an Emmy winning short film

Geeta has worked with big directors like Sam Pollard and Spike Lee. This time, getting a nomination at the Oscars was a great honor for him, even if he did not win. His hard work and raising important issues through films is commendable. It is a matter of pride for India that an Indian origin filmmaker created such a big history.