लगा चुनरी में दाग़

This is not a must watch. But definitely worth your time. I don't know why this movie was so underrated. Excellent performance from every characters. Somehow, in the early scenes of 'happy days' I felt that Konkona as 'chutki' has outclassed Rani in performance! Also the acting of (by Taraana?) as the character 'sophie' needs mention. All in all everyone performed very well. Abhishek's entry as Kunal's elder brother in the end is predictable. The thing I most like is the simple happy ending. Usually, a movie with such high voltage drama ends in a certain way but this is not.

So at least watch it for the sake of climax!

This fall is supposed to be full of good and bad surprises. All the previews of this flick promised that a treat is likely to come our way. And this is exactly what has gone against this movie.The highlights of the songs weren't too misleading, as far as its catchy tunes are concerned. The plot revolves around a family settled in Benaras. Shivshanker Sahay (Anupam Kher) is a retired man lives in an ancestral house, with two daughters, and his wife, Sabitri (Jaya Bachchan). The elder daughter Vibha (Rani) is more conscious of her parents' old age, their growing anxiety for making both ends meet, and her incapacity as a woman to support her parents as a son would have done. This financial crisis pushes Vibha to fetch for work in a city of opportunities where opportunities are very hard to strike. From this point, the never-ending saga of Vibha turning into Natasha brings a very predictable twist in the story. Chutki (Konkana Sen) is one of the finest artists in Indian cinema. She has done full justice to her role as a younger daughter with little understanding of the family crisis and huge dreams for future. Though it is a very well-executed movie, with finesse of Pradeep Sarkar, and all the right ingredients for a commercial hit, it is a very predictable movie. The reason for its predictability is that the previews not only revealed the entire story, but stole all the surprising elements from it.

Rani Mukherjee's performance in the lead role is good. Konkona Sen has given a great performance as always. This movie is worth a look at once.

Writing about LCMD has been on my to-do list for quite a while and destiny chooses this day to make it happen. Laaga Chunari Mein Daag at prima-facie narrates a tale of a girl who hails from from a devout & conservative middle-class family enriched with strong values. Sadly the family is faced with financial difficulties and the girl embarks on a journey to big city for a bailout. Circumstances force the girl from the Holy city to compromise her values to make a living in the Sin City. From there its about leading a dual life of in the garb of "Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde" and a subsequent "forced" love track.

There appears to be more-than-warranted sub-plots into the story-line which spoils the narrative. The director seems to be at loss as to what he wanted to put across. Journey from Benaras to Mumbai plot is straight lift from Raj Kapoor's Ram Teri Ganga Maili. Parineeta being a period drama warranted a rich looked backed with a slow narrative for the audience to connect. However the style (slow-narrative) seems ill-suited for Laaga Chunari Mein Daag.

This movie could have been yet another feather in Rani's cap as her character is author backed and a feminist storyline. Konkana is as usual spot on. Jaya B & Anupam do their part with ease. Jr. B seems to have an extended special appearance.

I'd been wanting to watch 'Laaga Chunari Mein Daag' for a while mainly because it starred one of my favorite actresses Konkona Sen Sharma and a used-to-be favorite Rani Mukerjee (I still like her). In spite of hearing the bad reviews, I was still considering it as I expected that in the least I'd get to see two great performances. That's all I got.

Pradeep Sarkar could have made one fine movie but with so many unnecessary (and irritating) characters, the bad writing (clichès etc) and lack of character development the film is hugely bought down. Why the hell was there a need to have the whole Tinnu Anand - Sushant Singh track (they're irritating)? A wooden Abhishek adds nothing interesting (another track that could have better been left out). Anupam Kher hams it up as a card-board selfish (misogynist?) dad. Likewise the other characters are badly written. In the beginning we see a frantic Jaya Bachchan in the hospital when the husband's had a heart attack but Konkona's Chutki is shown to be very relaxed (as if nothing happened). Was she simply in denial or was she just staying positive? Then in a later scene (before Rani becomes an escort call girl) we see that her neighbor-friend offers her money for help but she still decides to sleep with his boss. Was it simply that phone call to her mother that pushed her off the edge? Jaya Bachchan plays a caricature mother and this can be added to one of her worst performances.

In addition to all the mess, most of the songs were horrible and should have been edited out. The only songs that stand out are the first track, the song that takes place when Badki becomes Natassha and the Mujra (even though it was chopped and could have been better left as a whole). The outdoor locations (e.g. Switzerland and Italy) in the songs were unnecessary but what would a Yashraj film be without such flooze?

On the positive side, as mentioned earlier, there are two standout performances. Apart from that one scene mentioned above, Konkona is brilliant. The role itself is not something particularly special, but the actress is and she definitely leaves a mark. The scenes with her and Rani are the best. Thankfully, there are enough of those to make the film somewhat worth the watch. It was funny seeing her do the singing and dancing (as it's the first time she's done that) not that she was bad or anything.

'Laaga Chunari Mein Daag' is Rani's film. The actress does one of her best acts and shows tremendous growth. Easily one of the best performances this year and all Rani needs is more great (and such different) roles in great films to mark her talent.

Hema Malini does a graceful cameo. However her dance-number is chopped into pieces. 'Would have liked to see her dance more. The cinematography is impressive, especially the shots of Banaras. On the whole, this is one severely flawed and very predictable film but with two fantastic performances that prevent me from calling it a waste of time. I'd recommend it to those who like the works of Rani and Konkona as long as they don't expect anything from the film itself.