Laaga Chunari Mein Daag - Le destin de Vibah

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.

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.

A look at a lush green fully grown tree might be a treat for one's eye but even it's root might have ended up in some drain of a cosmopolitan city from where it sources its life.

Well such is the story of this movie where in a simple small town girl falls in the webs of the flesh industry to get her family out of it's hysterical trouble. Now when such is the story of the movie less is left for the director and more for the actors to perform....and do they deliver???....

YES they do, Rani Mukherjee does justice to this difficult role that she has performed, specially during the transformation from a village girl to the so called "high class escort". But Hats off to Jaya Bachchan & Konkona Sen Sharma who i should say is a jewel of bollywood. Its now that i realize how talented Mrs Bachchan is, a remarkable performance i should say. Abhiskek Bachchan is not Akshay Kumar but does his part in the movie to the audience's pleasure.

On an all it is a well crafted movie, a movie on which effort has not been put only to sell it but otherwise.As far as the Rs 220 that i spent on watching this film is concerned, i think i got my money's worth. My suggestion is "please go and watch the film for the performances.

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.

As anyone who has seen a trailer for this movie knows, Rani Mukherjee is a girl from a fine Banaras family on the economic downslide, who goes to Bombay intending to make money to help them out and finds herself in business as a high-class professional escort.

When her younger sister, Konkona Sen Sharma, comes to Bombay to take up her own job in an ad agency, we see the two of them in a tonga on Marine Drive, the Queen's Necklace fulfilling its promise to swirl the city in glamor. When some ladies of the night pass by the carriage, Konkona makes an unthinking provincial girl's harsh comment, and her sister rebukes her sharply for her lack of compassion.

In this passage of perfect dialogue, you have the main tension driving the story, and one of its many moments of good acting between well-drawn women characters. What is going to happen if the younger sister finds out what her big sister has done in order to secure her own future? Will Rani's sacrifice separate her forever from her sister's love and respect, and from a chance at acceptance in romance and marriage?

I gather this is a Hindi movie theme known to the Indian audience. LCMD is far from perfect -- there's a mixing of story types going on probably, the old-style melodrama and something more modern and psychological -- but the good things about it make it more than worth seeing. There are four striking women characters (Jaya as mother, and Hema Malini in a special appearance that blesses the whole movie, including a dance that should have been much longer) who all seem relatively "real" in relation to Hindi movie women. They relate to each other in a decent, normal way (in small roles we have a less-nice girl and also a friend in Bombay as well).

Another good thing: the parents are less than respect-worthy without being "bad" Hindi movie parents -- father clearly is an upper-class slacker who'd rather develop "symptoms" than get a job, rent out a room, sell the property and live within his means; and mother is interestingly ambivalent about what her daughter is doing in order to be sending home the cash.

The cinematography of Banares and Bombay is worth the trip to the theaters, and the clothes are worth taking notes on, both the subtle and stunning cotton traditional clothes of the family in Banaras and Rani's high-style nicely top-of-the-city wardrobe. You might be reminded of India as the home of the most wonderful textiles on the planet.

If the story is still Bollywoodized and Bollywood-y (how did a villain know the thing he knows? why don't we see a bit more of Rani's "work life"? why do we need a song that is actually set in Switzerland -- though maybe that's ironic/postmodern?), it nonetheless is a rich enough, fresh enough, and engaging enough experience, with great performances.

As it really is about its women, the men are fine but you wouldn't focus on them in thinking about the movie. If you see the movie, you may find it raises good questions -- it it progressive? regressive? what do we mean by these things? -- worth talking and thinking about.