‘Hanuman Ansh’ Misses Oscar Submission Deadline as Producer Namrata Singh Explains Why
The success of Hanuman Ansh has created opportunities its makers did not necessarily expect when the film arrived in cinemas. One of them, however, came with a deadline the team failed to meet.
Producer Namrata Singh has confirmed that the film was not submitted for consideration as India’s official entry in the Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category before the September 7 deadline.
According to Singh, the omission was not a decision to avoid the Oscar selection process. The film’s small team simply did not know about the deadline in time while managing an increasingly demanding post-release schedule.
“We missed the Oscar submission deadline [for consideration as India’s official entry for Best International Feature Film] yesterday (September 7), as it was the last day,” Singh told Bollywood Hungama.
She said the team began receiving calls after the deadline asking why the film had not been entered.
“But we didn’t know about it,” she said. “We are busy with too many things. Also, we are a really small team.”
A Small Team Managing a Rapidly Expanding Release
The missed deadline came during an unusually busy period for the producers.
Directed by first-time writer-director Vishal Chaturvedi, Hanuman Ansh draws inspiration from the life and spiritual legacy of Neem Karoli Baba. The Hindi film opened in cinemas on August 7, 2026.
Its theatrical journey did not begin like that of a conventional large-scale Hindi release. After a modest start, the film gained momentum through audience response and developed into an unexpected commercial success.
That growth brought new demands.
Instead of winding down after the initial release, the team found itself preparing the film for additional languages and markets while also dealing with work that had not been part of a large pre-planned distribution campaign.
Telugu Version Became an Immediate Priority
Among the most pressing projects was a Telugu-language version of the film.
Singh said the producers decided to concentrate on Telugu before preparing Tamil, Malayalam or Kannada editions. Filmmaker Trivikram Srinivas is associated with the Telugu version, which was announced for a September 18 theatrical release.
The absence of versions in the other southern languages was not presented as a lack of interest. Singh said the team had simply not had enough time to prepare them.
That distinction matters because the workload around Hanuman Ansh expanded after the film had already begun finding a wider audience.
The producers were effectively trying to respond to demand while the theatrical run was still developing.
Overseas Rollout Added Another Layer of Work
International distribution was happening at the same time.
Singh said the team was working through certification requirements and preparing material needed for overseas markets, a process made more complicated by the relative inexperience of those handling the film.
She is a first-time producer, while Chaturvedi is a first-time writer-director.
The filmmakers had also placed particular importance on September 11 for the international rollout because it marks the Mahasamadhi day of Neem Karoli Baba, who died in 1973.
That gave the overseas release both a practical deadline and a significance tied directly to the subject of the film.
Accessibility work was underway as well. Singh said the team wanted to make the film available to audiences with different abilities, adding another responsibility during an already crowded release period.
With members of the cast and the director travelling, the number of people available to manage those tasks was limited.
What Missing the Deadline Actually Means
The film’s absence from the Oscar process requires an important distinction.
Hanuman Ansh was not evaluated and rejected as India’s official entry. According to Singh’s account, it was never submitted by the required deadline for consideration in the domestic selection process.
India can send one film as its official submission for the Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category. Eligible films seeking that route first have to enter the national selection process, after which a jury chooses the country’s submission.
Because the Hanuman Ansh team missed the September 7 deadline, the film will not be part of that selection process this year.
That is different from losing out to another film after consideration.
The Film Had Already Overcome Production Difficulties
The hectic period following release is the latest chapter in a production that had faced problems well before reaching cinemas.
Chaturvedi has previously spoken about cast and crew members leaving the project and the original lead actor becoming seriously ill.
Shobhinaw Satyaa, who had been working as an assistant director, was eventually cast as Neem Karoli Baba.
The film later received a U certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification on July 3, 2026. Chaturvedi is credited as director, screenwriter and story writer, with Satyaa and Vihaan Shedge among the principal cast.
Those circumstances provide useful context for the producer’s description of a small team trying to manage the consequences of a film performing beyond its initial scale.
Plans Are Expanding Beyond Theatres
The producers are now exploring ways to extend Hanuman Ansh beyond its theatrical run.
Singh said a game is being developed with the company behind FAU-G. A comic book is also in development, and discussions have taken place with a major Indian comic-book publisher.
Those plans suggest the filmmakers are treating the response to Hanuman Ansh as an opportunity to build the property across different formats rather than simply extend its cinema run.
The Oscar submission, however, is one opportunity that cannot be recovered this year.
For a film whose reach expanded quickly after release, the missed September 7 deadline also illustrates a less visible consequence of unexpected success: opportunities can multiply faster than a small production team is equipped to handle them.
In this case, the result is straightforward. Hanuman Ansh will not compete to become India’s official submission for the Best International Feature Film Oscar this year, not because it was passed over by selectors, but because its application never entered the process.
