Kiran Rao Returns as Director With ‘Laapataa Ladies’ — An Endearing Social Commentary Full of Wit and Flavour

March 1, 2024 March 1, 2024 3 min read By Nida Hasan

It’s 2001 in the very heart of rural India, where a woman’s dreams and dignity remain hidden behind a veil; imprisoned by the prevalent patriarchy with roots so deep that no winds of change can seem to knock them over. Enter brides Phool Kumari (Nitanshi Goel) and Pushpa (Pratibha Ranta) who, obviously veiled and duty-bound, hop on a cross-country train to accompany their husbands for a life of marital bliss, or so they’ve been promised, until they accidentally get swapped. What ensues then is a journey marked by complete chaos, layered with much-needed lessons on self-belief, independence and empowerment.

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Kiran Rao returns to the director’s chair after almost 12 years with “Laapataa Ladies” — a fresh, satirical take on Indian society’s penchant for confining and dictating its women — offering plenty of food for thought without being too preachy. Rao’s feminist approach is nuanced and not driven by youthful idealism. The film is engaging, snappy, and whimsical — a far cry from Rao’s debut venture “Dhobi Ghat,” (a masterpiece in its own right) but with the messaging very much intact. Every detail; every frame of the film is well-thought out; the interiors of the fictional state of Nirmal Pradesh, its inhabitants and rich but regressive traditions couldn’t be any more realistic and believable. It also makes perfect sense for the film to be set more than two decades ago when communication resources were limited and getting lost was actually a possibility, instead of being a rather absurd scenario. But it’s not the “getting lost” part that’s the focus of the story, but the “finding oneself in the process” aspect that forms the true crux.

A story rooted in giving an identity and agency to women deemed ‘faceless,’ its women are the real shining stars. Both Phool and Pushpa (also Jaya) are polar opposites in their personalities and their responses to the unfamiliar. While Phool is a simpleton; innocent to the extent of being clueless, Pushpa is sharp, aware and self-assured. Regardless, they are in some way victims of the patriarchal system that surrounds them but who, in the end, emerge as more than just that. Credit to Rao for effectively balancing two very different portrayals without watering down the struggles of either, and to the cast — Goel and Ranta — for portraying them so brilliantly. Sparsh Shrivastava adds both vulnerability and authenticity to his character Deepak (Phool’s husband) who’s flabbergasted with losing his new bride and desperately trying to find her. He’s a reminder that love and good exist in this big, bad, misogynistic world. And then there is the harsh and gruff Manju Mai (played by Chhaya Kadam) — a mirror to the crude reality of the world. She’s lived the ugly and risen above to make her own place in the society. Her tough exterior around her kind heart is testament to the hard lessons she’s learnt over the years and that she passes onto Phool without mincing words. The particular moment when she tells Phool that the latter’s been frauded all her life is deeply moving and perhaps relatable for every South Asian woman.

With “Laapataa Ladies,” Rao manages to evoke a rollercoaster of emotions; from empathy to urgency to shared empowerment, and still keeps the audience curious enough to remain hooked till the end. Despite four different stories with varying experiences, each of them carving their own trajectory and posed with the different dilemmas, Rao intricately weaves them as a cohesive whole like pieces of a puzzle falling right into place. “Laapataa Ladies” is both a fun comedy of errors and a gratifying tale of self-discovery; unearthing the unspoken but deep-seated codes of Indian society, loud and clear but with subtlety — if that makes sense!

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“Laapataa Ladies (Lost Ladies)” released globally on March 1st, 2024 and premiered to a standing ovation at the Toronto International Film Festival, 2023, where Brown Girl Magazine sat down with the genius behind the film, discussing her comeback as a director, experimenting with the comedy genre and what connects her to the story unfolding on screen, on a personal level. Check out the conversation below: