So, finally, we have a movie that does not talk about the plight of poor people in villages. We also do not have a movie about the plight of poor people in metro cities. Finally, we have a story that is self-contained in villages and is beautiful.

In brief, Laapataa Ladies takes you on a journey of a groom who has mistakenly taken a different bride and is searching for his own bride. It is a simply written beautiful story.

Laapataa Ladies is fine cinema, with a beautiful, relatable cast, an excellently narrated story, and a relatable village set-up to give power to the movie. A few years back, it was Panchayat and a few other movies that had broken the barriers of metro cities to showcase the stories of villages in all their authenticity. However, in Panchayat, it still needed an anchor in the form of a city boy to showcase village lives. In other movies, however, the approach has always been to show village life as a zoo, where people’s habits, way of talking, or their presence is merely amusing.

However, even in my three-year visit, I have found nothing out of the world amusing in village life, definitely under-represented though. There’s something about the simplicity and the slow life that is inspiring and something to learn from. Laapataa Ladies does that; none of the characters need city people coming in to give advice, and everything is internal. The stories come from inside, the complexities and the advice also come from inside as well. The characters feel natural, and their struggles are relatable even if it is not from the POV of a city person. Kudos to that!

I feel we need to move over our big budgeted Bollywood films to give way to smaller films like these. When Bollywood can only capture a few popular ethnicity like Punjabis, Bengalis and Gujratis; that too in their stereotypes. Films like these are more inclusive of the country. This truly felt like an Indian Film, one which is really relatable across India.

What also works for Laapataa Ladies is the simple but impactful dialogues. You will have to love everything that the character Manju Maai, portrayed by Chhaya Kadam, has played. The cast is appropriately chosen, even the background characters really are pieces of the puzzle which work perfectly together. The three major characters, Phool, Jaya, and Deepak, have done fantastic work in the movie.

A special mention to set design, makeup and costumes. All three of them played an incredible part in making everything look real. The sets based in villages of Madhya Pradesh gave the much needed rural outlook of the story. The train stations, the cycle run along the moving train along with the wedding procession everything looked absolutely on-spot. 

Is it preachy?

Yes and No. Yes, being sensitive of the time/place of the setting of the story, Laapataa Ladies definitely did not miss out bringing in patriarchy and misogyny of the characters. Womanhood is unearthed and the two main cast bring out different facets of womanhood which is beautifully done. Manju Maai’s character however is the moral compass in the story, preaching whenever required. The way they have approached the topic is sensitive and yet never overpowering on the story. There is comedy meanwhile, spearheaded by Ravi Kishan’s character.

Why watch?

For the exceptionally simple story! Sometimes films need not be complicated; it can be in a straight line, and sometimes these characteristics make it more impactful. There is on-point comedy, on-point wokeness, and nothing bothers you. It’s all sublime, and yet you feel the impact of it.