LAAPATAA LEGEND

Thirteen years since 'Dhobi Ghat' (2011), Kiran Rao returns to the director's chair to serve a poignant portrayal of womanhood, finds Hasina Jeelani

- Hasina Jeelani

We stood up. We leaned in. We shattered the glass ceiling. And now, a hidden gem from auteur Kiran Rao serves as a pertinent reminder to lean on each other instead. Indeed, in a landscape littered with larger-than-life action capers and star-studded ensembles, ‘Laapataa Ladies’ (2024) managed to fetch applause across the country and at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The premise? An unassuming imagination of the chaos and hilarity that would ensue if two newlywed brides were accidentally exchanged on a passenger train.

“It felt like I had never been away,” says Rao crisply, already foreseeing the question hovering in the air on her return to the directorial chair since ‘Dhobi Ghat’ (2011).

The story is now well-established as industry lore: when co-producer Aamir Khan first read the tale, ‘Two Brides’ by Biplab Goswami at a script writing competition, Rao felt the wheels beginning to turn.