The Film Federation of India’s citation for the Oscar selection of Kiran Rao’s film Laapataa Ladies has given rise to a series of memes and posts criticising the choice of words used. The opening line, which says 'Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance', has especially been found bizarre by several people, with many of them expressing displeasure on social media. 

Noted film critic Namrata Joshi was among the first to point out the wording of the citation on September 23, after the film was announced as India’s official entry to the Oscars. "FFI’s citation for the Oscar pick is the weirdest reading of #LaapataaLadies. So awfully patronising of women in general, forget Indian women alone. Written by a man suffering from superiority complex? What does “strange mix of submission & dominance” even mean! Offensive!" she tweeted. 

Many were also disappointed that the film they had all anticipated to be in the race, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light (AWIAL), which won the Grand Prix at Cannes, was overlooked. Scriptwriter, lyricist, and standup comedian Varun Grover called it heartbreaking. "I mean it was expected that the chaaploos mandali (who can’t even write a citation with any attention to detail or meaning) will never select a film by someone who has questioned their authority. And it’s still heartbreaking. We rarely get such a strong contender as AWIAL," he tweeted. 

By 'someone who questioned their authority' he meant AWIAL's director Payal Kapadia, who as a student had protested against the Union government's appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the chairperson of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).

Though critics were quick to add that Laapataa Ladies was also a well-made film, they could not let go of the unusual citation. One of the most viral memes that went around the internet was a collage of Bollywood actor Rekha, crying with her dog in one picture, and looking smug in red in another.

Another user of X (formerly Twitter) put together two visuals of Tamil comedian Kovai Sarala, in one of which she is meek and the other has her chasing a man with a stick.

The famous Anniyan scene, which has Vikram switching personalities within seconds, inevitably made it to a meme about 'submissive and dominant' women, while one user did not spare Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who had recently sparked a row with her statement on the death of a young employee at E&Y. That speech, full of self-assurance, was contrasted against a picture of the Minister bowing before Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Many also shared the list of people in the selection committee, noting that it was an all-male team and that there was little wonder that the citation came out in this manner.