‘Anuja’ has made it to the 2025 Academy awards being nominated in the category of the Best Live Action Short film. The film is backed by Priyanka Chopra and Guneet Monga. The nomination list for the 97^th Academy Awards was announced on Thursday by Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott. There were about 180 films that qualified for the Best Live Action Short film, out of which five are in the race of Oscar win.

Anuja is competing with Alien, I’m not a robot, The last ranger and A Man who would not remain silent. This is Guneet’s third Oscar nomination, after winning it big with The Elephant Whisperers and Period: End of sentence.

The 97^th Academy awards will commence on March 2,2025 at Dolby theater, Los Angeles. Conan O’Brien will host the Oscars ceremony, his first.

About the film ‘Anuja’

The story revolves around the titular character, a 9- year-old girl working in a garment factory of Delhi along with her elder sister Palak. Anuja has the rare opportunity of studying and going to school. Just as the narrative moves on with the protagonist’s journey, she faces a decision that is going to affect her family and her future ahead. Directed by Adam J Graves and produced by his wife Suchitra Mattai, the film will be streaming on Netflix. The live action film is backed by stars Priyanka Chopra and Mindy Kaling, along with Academy award winner Guneet Monga.

Anuja’s director Adam J Graves describes the film as “a heartfelt tribute to the resilience and untold stories of working children.” The film starring Ananya Shanbhag, Sajda Pathan, Nagesh Bhosle and Gulshan Walia will be released soon, the date not announced yet. Anuja was produced in collaboration with the Salaam Balak Trust (SBT) which is a non-profit founded by Mira Nair’s family supporting street children and young workers, along with Shine Global, which is known for Academy award wins War/Dance (2007) and Innocente (2012) and Krushan Naik films.

Priyanka Chopra took to Instagram, giving a shout out to Anuja. She shared the poster and clip from the film, the caption starting with, “Yaaay! Anuja is heading to the 2025 Oscars as a nominee for Best Live Action Short film! Incredible! Thank you to the @theacademy for the amazing honor.”

Ending her long note, Priyanka wrote in the post, “Nothing makes me more proud than supporting the courageous storytelling of evocative films like this.”  

Earlier, on being associated with the film, Priyanka said, “This beautiful shines a spotlight on a subject that affects millions of children around the world, who are faced with the impossible decision between a future that they cannot yet see, and the immediate realities of their present.”