<P> India has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1957, a year after the incorporation of the category . The award is given annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature - length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue . The "Best Foreign Language Film" category was not created until 1956; however, between 1947 and 1955, the Academy presented a non-competitive Honorary Award for the best foreign language films released in the United States . </P> <P> The Film Federation of India (FFI) appoints a committee to choose one film among those released that year to be submitted as India's official entry to the Academy for a nomination for "Best Foreign Language Film" the following year . The chosen films, along with their English subtitles, are sent to the Academy, where they are screened for the jury . The 1957 Hindi film Mother India was India's first submission . The film made it to the final shortlist and was nominated alongside four other films in the category . It came close to winning the Academy Award but lost to Nights of Cabiria by a single vote . Since 1984, India has not submitted a film on only one occasion; in 2003, the FFI controversially chose not make an entry as they felt no film would be in a position to compete with films from other nations . As of 2014, only three Indian films--Mother India, Salaam Bombay! and Lagaan--have been nominated for the Academy Award for "Best Foreign Language Film". In 2011, the jury of the 58th National Film Awards made a recommendation that films winning Best Film at the annual National Film Awards should be the official entry . However, over the next three years, none of the "Best Film" winners was chosen as the official entry . For the 88th Academy Awards, Court, the "Best Film" winner at the 62nd National Film Awards, was submitted by India . </P>

India's first official entry at the oscars