Laapataa Ladies, released internationally as Lost Ladies, is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film directed by Kiran Rao, and produced by Rao, Aamir Khan, and Jyoti Deshpande. It stars Sparsh Shrivastava, Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Chhaya Kadam and Ravi Kishan, and tells the story of two young newly-wed brides who get exchanged during a train ride to their husband's homes.
The film was screened at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival on 8 September 2023, and was theatrically released on 1 March 2024. The film received critical acclaim and was praised for its story, screenplay and cast performances.
It won Best Film (Critics' Choice) at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. The film was selected as the Indian entry for the Best International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards, but was not nominated. The selection of entry raised concerns and controversy over the film instead of All We Imagine as Light. At the 70th Filmfare Awards, Laapataa Ladies received a record-breaking 24 nominations and won 13 awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Female Debut (Goel).
Plot
In 2001, within the fictional state of Nirmal Pradesh, a young farmer named Deepak travels back to his village with his new bride, Phool Kumari. They board a heavily congested overnight passenger train alongside several other newlywed couples. Adhering to regional tradition, all the brides wear identical red bridal attire with their faces entirely concealed by a ghoonghat (veil). Deepak dozes off during the journey and wakes up abruptly at night, realizing the train has reached his station. In the ensuing rush and darkness, he accidentally disembarks with the wrong bride, leaving Phool behind on the train with another groom, Pradeep.
Deepak's family gathers to welcome the couple, only to discover the mistake once the bride lifts her veil. Unwilling to reveal her true identity, the woman gives the family a false name, Pushpa, and lies about her hometown. Meanwhile, at a distant railway station, Phool realizes the mix-up. However, because she does not know the name of Deepak's village or his phone number, the station master cannot assist her. Refusing to return to her own village out of fear of bringing social shame upon her family, Phool decides to remain at the platform in hopes that Deepak will return for her. She receives shelter and employment from Manju Mai, an independent woman who runs a tea stall on the platform.
A frantic Deepak files a missing person report with Sub-Inspector Shyam Manohar. Reviewing the details, Manohar grows suspicious of "Pushpa" and surmises she might be a runaway thief. He places her under surveillance, observing her selling jewelry, secretly using a mobile phone, and purchasing bus tickets. Unaware of the police investigation, the woman genuinely bonds with Deepak’s family, while Phool, working at the railway tea stall, learns to make kalakand and adapts to an independent lifestyle.
Believing she belongs to an organized gang, Manohar arrests the woman, discovering her real name is Jaya. Jaya confesses that she possesses an aspiration to study organic farming in Dehradun, but her family forcefully married her off to the abusive Pradeep. She explains that she used the chaotic train mix-up as an unexpected opportunity to escape her marriage.
Pradeep arrives at the police station to reclaim Jaya, immediately slapping her in front of the officers and threatening to extort his dowry from her mother. Manohar intervenes, stating that Jaya is an adult who cannot be legally forced to go with him. He releases Jaya and threatens to prosecute Pradeep for domestic violence and investigate the suspicious death of his first wife if he ever approaches Jaya again.
Before her arrest, Jaya had commissioned Deepak’s artistic sister-in-law, Poonam, to sketch a portrait of Phool, which Jaya printed onto missing person posters and distributed across local transit hubs. Spotting one of these posters at her station, Phool finally identifies her location and reunites with Deepak. Her safety secured, Jaya departs for Dehradun to freely pursue her higher education.
Production
This is Kiran Rao's second directorial venture after Dhobi Ghat (2010). The film's co-producer Aamir Khan discovered the story Two Brides, by Biplab Goswami, at a script writing competition in 2018. The film was shot on location in Bamuliya and Dhamankheda (Dhankhedi) villages in the Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh. Local villagers were cast as secondary characters and the film was shot in actual houses in the area.
Soundtrack
The music of the film was composed by Ram Sampath to lyrics written by Divyanidhi Sharma, Prashant Pandey and Swanand Kirkire.
Release
Laapataa Ladies was released in theatres on 1 March 2024. Yash Raj Films acquired global distribution rights for the film.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 25 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10.
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and stated that Kiran Rao returns to the director's seat "with a work that strikes the right notes. She does away with marquee names in Laapataa Ladies... and employs three first-timers in a lively tale of two brides caught in a terrible mix-up."
Bollywood Hungama rated the film 3/5 stars, writing, "Laapataa Ladies works due to the amusing plot, performances, underlying message and some memorable funny and emotional scenes." Catherine Bray of The Guardian gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated, "If you can get with the larky premise, Kiran Rao’s tale of mixed-up newlyweds makes for a gently probing comedy of manners."
In a review for The Indian Express, Shubhra Gupta rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Kiran Rao's film is unapologetically message-y, but its strongly beating feminist heart overrides the broad brush strokes. Sometimes things need to be stated loud and clear."
Rishil Jogani of Pinkvilla rated the film 4/5 and opined that Laapataa Ladies "is funny, witty, quirky, entertaining and empowering. It is an extremely important film that utilises the power of cinema in the right way".
Tushar Joshi of India Today rated 4/5 and said in his review that "Laapataa Ladies is a terrific watch simply because it is put together so well. The length might be a slight issue, but if you invest your heart into this tale of two women gone missing, then you will be in for a treat."
Box office
On its first day, the film earned Net of ₹75 lakh, followed by ₹1.45 crore on the second day and ₹1.7 crore on the third day, a first weekend total of ₹3.75 crore. As of 2 May 2024, the film has a gross of ₹24.1 crore in India and a worldwide gross of ₹25.26 crore.
