‘I kept writing for 10-12 years’: Kiran Rao on her comeback as director with ‘Laapataa Ladies’

New Delhi, February 18

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After treating the audience with ‘Dhobi Ghat’, the ace director and producer Kiran Rao, is back with another project titled ‘Laapataa Ladies’. As Rao is busy in promoting her film, she recently got candid about making a comeback as a director and what makes the story set in 2001 still relatable and relevant.

She said, “My struggle continued. I kept writing for 10-12 years. I was writing stories for films and OTT series. But for some reason, I wasn’t completely satisfied with them.”

“When ‘Dhobi Ghat’ was released, I became a mother. I was very busy and enjoying being a mother. I don’t know how the years went by. But I kept writing. I worked in the films of Aamir Khan Productions. I also contributed to the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. But the desire to make a film was left behind. Because I was not able to complete the script.”

She continued, “In 2018, Aamir got this script. He was a judge in a screenwriting competition. And he liked the story a lot. This story won the second prize. Writer Biplab Goswami wrote it. Then I thought, yes, this is my story. But it’s been six years since it was made.”

The story of the movie revolves around two newly-wed brides who get separated from their families and how a slip-up sets many things right. In a very subtle way, using the elements of humour and hope, Kiran has attempted to address a strong social issue and women’s empowerment.

However, the original story was much realistic and dark though her film comes with the elements of comedy and hope.

As she explained, “When we met Sneha Desai as a writer, I felt that this could be done because the story was good, but it was realistic. I felt that there should be fun because this is a kind of satirical situation. Sneha Desai brought that twist well. And I will give her full credit. Divyanidhi Sharma created the character of Shyam Manohar (played by Ravi Kishan).

“So the challenge was that the topics on which we have to discuss to change people’s perspective, we should do it under the table. We should do it through comedy. So that you don’t feel that someone is giving you a lecture. So, while writing, a lot of us were conscious that the less we kept preaching, the less we kept lecturing,” she added.

‘Laapata Ladies’ is set in Madhya Pradesh, a time when mobile phones were precious and the internet and technology had not made everything easily accessible. But, she feels that the story is still relatable.

“I think this story will touch people’s hearts as emotions and dreams have no age.” On how she decided about the locations, the director shared, “So, we saw a lot of recce tapes from the villages in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. As I said, it was the time of Covid, so we couldn’t travel much to find them. Their shooting infrastructure is good. The government and tourism support the film industry a lot. And we got to see beautiful villages that haven’t changed that much in the last 20-25 years.”

“So, we also had that requirement that we don’t get a very solid house in that village. So, where there is a beautiful mud house of India, that should be there. Simplicity, beauty, where there are fields behind a house. We needed that kind of atmosphere that we got in Madhya Pradesh. And we did the train shoots in Maharashtra. We shot train stations in Nashik,” the director added.

The film stars Ravi Kishan, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastav and Nitanshi Goel.

Talking about the casting of the film, and working with new as well as established names, Kiran shared, “It always comes with a challenge to work with new stars but to hire new people, you have to balance the equation. You have to keep your project within a certain size, being realistic, and then you can be free. And we both felt that, Aamir and I, that if the actors are completely new to this, who fit this character perfectly, then you (the audience) will believe and understand this world in some way. You won’t think, how is this possible? You know, you will start flowing with this story. So, because of Aamir’s faith, sharp planning and design; casting happened.”