People do not always stay glued to their seats after the credits roll down, hoping to see after-credits. Laapataa Ladies (2024) made audiences do just that! People remained seated, hoping for something to happen—some after-story of the characters who just found their happiness without ever envying the other. 

This is the beauty of the movie, which has been touted as one of the most endearing movies ever made. And endearing it is! The happy ending of the ‘Ladies’ here is the opposite of the other. While one leaves the nest to soar high, the other wants to go further deep in love. Nothing could have shown the power of choice more beautifully than the magnificent ending Laapataa Ladies has. 

Director Kiran Rao was advised to opt for an OTT release instead of the theatrical one. After all, the movie doesn’t feature any ‘stars’ (barring Ravi Kishan) and has none of the glitz and glamor to attract multiplex audiences. It is simple to the core and depicts life as it is.

Though seemingly comical, the fact that married women wearing the same saree and red veil (ghoonghat, in Hindi) traveling in the general bogey of Indian Railways can get interchanged is not disputed. It has happened across rural India, thanks to the age-old practice of keeping women in veils. This is why the male characters keep lashing out at these ghoonghats that made the women disappear. 

The best part about Laapataa Ladies is its nuance. The movie is neither subtle nor too on-your-nose about women’s empowerment. It merely shows the many superwomen living amidst us. The lost wife Phool (Nitanshi Goel) discovers independence while working for Manju Mai at the railway station; the intelligent Jaya (Pratibha Ranta) uses her presence of mind to escape a potentially abusive (and dangerous) marriage; the “tough on the outside” Manju Mai (Chaya Kadam) makes sure Phool realizes what she has gotten herself into by marrying. All of them showcase the diverse women we see around us. Still, we are quick to put them into labels of empowered and not empowered. We don’t know their story. But they are fighting their oppressive regimes, in whatever ways they can. 

The movie doesn’t bore you for a minute. It lets you witness what may very well happen in real life. For urban folks, the practice of keeping women in veils, dealing with corrupt police officers and politicians, and the tradition of not uttering your husband’s name is a comedy riot. But, for a large part of India, it continues to be the reality. The movie does not shy away from bringing to the surface social evils like dowry death, physical abuse, and how society and the law refuse to come to a woman’s aid even when her life is endangered. Every character brings to the fore an uncomfortable reality of Indian society. But, there’s no overt preachiness. 

Laapataa Ladies is what feminism means – support for women and their rights, from fellow women as well as men. That’s exactly what the men and women in the movie do for the Ladies. 

On the one hand, it has men like Pradeep (Bhaskar Jha) who commit the most heinous crimes against women. But on the other, there’s the adorable Deepak (Sparsh Srivastava) who doesn’t doubt his wife’s character for a moment and remains committed to her pursuit. All the male characters in the movie play a role in the upliftment of the two women, Phool and Jaya. 

From the corrupt police officer to even Deepak’s friends, the men of Laapataa Ladies do not give up on their women and acknowledge the atrocities that keep them from living life. This includes the tough woman sub-inspector Bela ji (Kanupriya Rishimum) who is seen flinching when Jaya’s husband assaults her in the police station. 

Laapataa Ladies is a well-packaged film that stays true to its core. Even the music, composed by Ram Sampath, possesses the earthiness of Indian villages. While women’s lives in rural India have hardly changed, there are moments of friendship and bonding seen among the womenfolk at home. The importance of female friendship and sisterhood is particularly emphasized through the women characters in the movie. 

A lump in the throat but a smile on the face – isn’t this what movies should leave us with? Especially, movies on women? After all, that’s what their lives are!

Review Courtesy of Neha Jha

Feature Image via The Indian Express