Rai is an emotionally engaging film with a dose of humor
Kiran Rao returns to the director’s chair a decade after his debut film, Dhobi Ghat (2011), a work that strikes the right note. He does away with marquee names Lapata LadiesProduced by Aamir Khan Productions in association with Kindling Pictures, and casts three first timers in a lively tale of two brides caught in a terrible mix-up.
Lapata Ladies The western puts women front and center and makes its points about gender equality unequivocally. The screenplay, however, is neither slick nor sharp. It may not be entirely subtle about which direction it’s driving, but it doesn’t overplay its hand either way.
Two newly married village girls who find themselves in dire straits. It doesn’t make them. Seeking an end to their suffering, they each learn in their own way that there is a way to dispel the darkness around them.
This is 2001. In the fictional Nirmal Pradesh, two newlyweds swap passenger trains on their way home with their respective husbands. In unsettling but life-changing chaos, they discover themselves and are never the same again.
Phool Kumari (Nitanshi Goel), in her teenage years, is stranded at a railway station when her husband Deepak (Sparsh Srivastava) gets off the train and takes another man’s identically dressed and veiled bride (Pratibha Ranta) by the hand. same compartment
When Deepak arrives at his village home with a woman who is not his wife, he and his family face a backlash from an embarrassing slip-up. The bride introduces herself as Pushpa Rani. Deepak doesn’t know where Phul, the girl he married, has gone missing.
He and his companions search high and low for the missing bride for the next few days. They lodge a complaint at the local police outpost but Inspector Shyam Manohar (Ravi Kishan) is not a man who is allowed to work. If anything, he only exacerbates the issue.
Pushpa, on her part, doesn’t look too upset that she’s not where she should be. He even begins to develop a bond with the two women in the family – Deepak’s mother Yashoda (Geeta Agrawal Sharma) and his sister-in-law Poonam (Rachna Gupta). And through it lies a story that contains the seeds of a rebellion.
Phul and Pushpa (both Hindi words for flower) are different in nature. The former is grieving, like a child in the forest, who cannot even name the village he was visiting. The latter has his wits about him. She makes the most of the freedom that a home gives her unwittingly. Pushpa is a bride without an attendant shackles because she is not in the right place.
For the poor flower, it’s a challenge to survive in one piece, fending for yourself in an unfamiliar, even possibly unsafe, place. He finds help in the form of a sleazy Chhotu (Satendra Soni), who does odd jobs for a railway platform tea and snacks kiosk, run by Manju Mai (Chaya Kadam).
Manju Mai, who has freed herself from an alcoholic husband and a parasitic son and has no qualms about it, takes Phul under her wing and begins to impress upon her the importance of not letting marriage become a chore around a girl’s neck.
The contrast may seem a touch fanciful at first flush. But look deeper and the two early rebellions, one by a woman with a cause, the other by an intellect with no choice, begin to make sense. Missing women are two sides of a claim in the face of a serious crisis.
Adapted from a story by Biplab Goswami and scripted by Sneha Desai (who also wrote the dialogues with additional input from Divyanidi Sharma), Laapataa lady A social satire with a pronounced feminist undertone that gives the film its rationale.
The film is breezy and light on its feet. Therefore, it is never in danger of being overwhelmed by the important issues it addresses. Its simple clarion call is for the rights of women who spoil their dreams post-marriage and it is celebrated in a simple manner that does not seek to draw too much attention to itself.
Of course, the film isn’t saying anything particularly original but the way it conveys its concerns is conveyed with admirable emphasis. One thing that Lapata Ladies Certainly not heavy-handed. It avoids excess. It says what it is and moves on.
The menace that looms over Flowers and Pushpa – part of which comes from the police inspector hell-bent on cashing in on the pain Deepak is in as a result of the accidental swap – exists only on the edge of the world that the Lapa women inhabit.
Social satire sits at home as it is not only sentimental but also laced with a dose of wry humor. Lapata Ladies An ‘issue’ film that never fails to entertain. Without playing the gravity of flower and blossom’s plight, it finds a place of hope in the worst of circumstances. Also, the film throws well-directed punches on patriarchy, evils of dowry, domestic violence and gender roles on women in marriage.
The three young leads are wonderfully cast. Nitanshi Goyal exudes a combination of fragility and optimism with minimal effort. Prash Srivastava (of Jamtara fame) is strong. Pratibha Ranta is a show-stealer.
Among the supporting actors, Ravi Kishan as a cop whose role in the story is great beyond just policing. Geeta Aggarwal Sharma, playing Deepak’s spunky mother, is, as always, pitch-perfect. And what is shadow step? He radiates radiance.
Several third actors are also notable. No matter how much footage the film allocates to them collectively and individually, they are different. Satendra Soni, Rachna Gupta as Deepak’s sister-in-law and Durgesh Kumar as a slow-witted constable.
Laapataa lady So accurate that a blip here or a blemish there can do no harm to its form.
