It's a bittersweet day. The Oscars 2021 shortlist was announced today and India's official entry for the Academy Awards, Jallikattu, failed to make it onto the Oscar race for the year.

But, on the bright side, a short film called Bittu is still in the running and is on the shortlist for the Live Action Short Film category. What great news!

© Indian Women Rising

The short film, based on a true story, tells the heartwarming story of two school-going friends. The woman behind Bittu, Karishma Dev Dube, has been receiving praise for her work and looks like it's not going to be stopping soon.

The film has already been a part of over eighteen film festivals across the world and the next step is an Academy Award nomination, hopefully.

Bittu is part of the cinema collective 'Indian Women Rising', which was launched by Ekta Kapoor, Guneet Monga, Tahira Kashyap Khurrana, and Ruchikaa Kapoor. Sharing the news on Instagram, Tahira Kashyap had nothing but excitement for their first project to receive such high accolades.

Even Ekta Kapoor shared her excitement.

Next step, Oscars.

Congratulations! #Bittu is a lyrical, haunting tale of friendship. I hope it continues to soar. https://t.co/pJRTAY44WD

People congratulate all the women who made it happen.

#Bittu advances in the race for an #Oscar in the live action short film category, out of 174 qualifying films. A big congrats to @KarishmaDevDube! @guneetm @ektarkapoor @tahira_k @IndWomenRising #Oscars2021

We can only hope.

#Jallikattu out of #Oscars race. Waiting to see if #Bittu can strike gold. @guneetm

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