Laapataa ladies, produced by Kiran Rao, Aamir Khan and Jyoti Deshpande, and directed by Kiran Rao, is India’s official entry to the 97th Academy Awards. This movie is based on a story “Two Brides” by Biplab Goswami. Laapataa Ladies is set in the rural India of 2001. This was the time when Cable TV was becoming a reality in the cities of India, but Internet and Mobile Phones were yet to take off. In this post, I take a look at the ladies and men of Laapataa Ladies. One of the men doesn’t allow me to call the group “gentlemen”.

First, the Ladies.

I will start with the first one that we are introduced to. Phool Kumari, one of the two brides. She is played by Nitanshi Goel, who captures all the innocence that comes naturally to Phool. While the movie is called Laapataa Ladies (Lost Ladies), she is the only one who is lost in the true sense of the word. She is lost, and she doesn’t know enough to survive in an uncertain world.

In bollywood stories of other nature, she might meet the people who exploit her and create a sad story. The first person she meets is the groom of the other bride and that could’ve led to a sad story if continued. But in this story she meets good-natured people. People who understand her predicament, shelter her and advise her. Her character arc goes from “girls from decent households don’t do these things” to “once I meet with him, no matter how small, but I’ll do something on my own”. You as a viewer witness the journey from dependence to self sufficiency.

The second lady of the movie is opposite of Phool. She is Pushpa Rani/Jaya Tripathi, played admiringly by Pratibha Ranta. The second bride. She is self sufficient, but is emotionally blackmailed to make a choice that she didn’t want to. Still, the moment she gets a chance to build her life, she jumps on it. As she says – “Life is giving me such a chance, and I don’t take it? I’m not that big a fool (Hum aise bhi budbak nahin hain)”. She knows what she wants from her life, and throughout the movie actively works towards it. Even though the movie is about Lost Ladies, she is not the lost one.

The third lady is Deepak (the first groom)’s mother, Yashoda, played by Geeta Agrawal Sharma. She exemplifies the reality of a woman’s life in rural India. Her role in this movie is parallel to the role of the mother she played in the movie 12th fail. She is seemingly oppressed by her Mother in Law, is obeyed by her son, while she herself doesn’t notice that her Daughter in Law, Poonam (Rachna Gupta) has not spoken for a while now. And she thinks it’s normal for her to go quiet just because her husband has gone to the city to work. Yashoda has desires, to lead a life where she can do what she wants. But she has been trained to follow orders from the men in the house. The story of contradictions, the woman of India.

“Oh, so do we cook food on the preference of ladies of the house? I don’t even remember what I prefer anymore.” – sums up her life. In the post on 12th fail, I wrote about how her character eggs on her son to complete his mission. In this one, she doesn’t have the chance to be so pivotal.

Then we meet Manju Maai played by Chhaya Kadam, a lady who is totally independent by choice. She is supposedly strong, runs a tea stall on a railway station, lives alone and she supports various characters in the story by giving them work. But her journey to independence is a reaction to a life of abuse and her retaliation to it. As she says, “I make money for my husband and son, and they beat me up at their whim and pleasure. They do it with the excuse that the one who loves you has the right to beat you up. So, one day I loved them as well, and threw them out.” She is worldly wise and understands how women have been oppressed through the stories of virtues which are told in every household.

Manju Maai’s keen insight is simply this – “men once trained their women to be something that will serve them. After that, the same training has been perpetuated by the women themselves, generations after generations.” For someone like Phool, who is really lost, a lady like Manju Maai is a great help. There is just one thing, you see all the other ladies with some joy at different times. For Manju Maai, that joy is elusive. She gets it when Phool reaches her home, but when will the next Phool come and when can Manju Maai be joyous again?

Finally, Poonam, the silent one. For a long long time in the movie she communicates only in gestures. Till Pushpa/Jaya calls her out as a mute, she is a ‘just there’ character. But once she starts to communicate, we learn her thoughts and her talent. She makes you ask the question, what happens if her husband dies. Does her life stop having any meaning? Her talent eventually helps to resolve the situation in the movie. But what if she never gets to speak?

Next, the Men.

The movie is about the Lost Ladies, but there are three men who are worth talking about. And one of them deserves a post on his own.

The first one is Deepak Kumar, played by Sparsh Shrivastava, husband of the first bride, Phool. He is young, innocent and madly in love. Through strange chance, he loses Phool and brings Pushpa home. His attitude towards Pushpa is always apologetic for the mix-up and respectful. He is the hero who won’t rest till he finds his wife. He is also guileless and at times as innocent as Phool herself. His innocence allows Pushpa to take him and his entire household into confidence. Watching him in the movie, you get the feeling that he is essentially a good man.

The second one is Pradeep Singh, portrayed by Bhaskar Jha, a local strongman, and he is everything opposite to Deepak. He is the toxic male of the era. For him, marriage is a way to get riches through dowry. His marriage to Pushpa/Jaya is his second one, and his first wife died through burning. There are rumours that he killed her. He is violent, abusive and is power corrupt. Local law enforcement treats him as if he is a criminal, but they can’t do much about it.

The third, and my favourite character of the movie is Sub-Inspector Shyam Manohar, played by Ravi Kishan. He is the quintessential policeman of the rural India of that era. He understands his people, knows how to treat them, knows how to investigate and is not averse to be corrupt. And he can join all the dots to arrive at a satisfactory resolution of the conundrum that the movie creates. A betel chewing Ravi Kishan in this role is a treat to watch. His expressions are always on point, from amused, to flabbergasted, to serious, to threatening and to being a good cop. As I mentioned, he deserves a post on his own. * I added the post – here.

If you are yet to watch the movie, Laapataa Ladies is available on Netflix. This is a story of rural India and is a commentary on the state of women during that era. I will like to believe that the situation would’ve changed with the digital revolution of Mobile phones and cheap data. But I don’t know if that is true. I loved the movie for being much more than a commentary on state of women. This is also a story of devoted friends, young workers trying to support their family, budding unrequited love. I will love to know your thoughts on the movie and the post.