Review : Laaga chunari mein daag

Rating : Below average (2.75/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2007
Running time : 2 hours 20 minutes
Director : Pradeep Sarkar
Cast : Anupam Kher, Rani Mukherjee, Konkona Sen Sharma, Abhishek Bacchhan, Jaya Bachhan, Kunal Kapoor
Kid rating : G

LAAGA CHUNARI MEIN DAAG : Ghisa-pita melodrama !

This was a film I’d rather looked forward to in 2007, after viewing the trailers, and the zesty clip of “Hum to aise hai bhaiyya”. However the bad reviews came in and I never got around to seeing it. Now that I have, I’ll tell you that this is an unremarkable film, so much so that I’m reviewing this a couple of months after seeing it. This film belongs in the 80s in spirit, and while it does glimmer with the sheen of tasteful wardrobe changes, and heavy, well-designed, artificial jewelery, it’s just decade old stuff packaged nicely.

Technically, and by that I mean – direction and screenplay, this is a decent film. What mires it down bigtime are the clichés. There is the old, ailing, impractical father (Kher), hanging onto his huge haveli (which is mired in a court-case) and decrepit views on family honor and the role of women. There is also the melancholy mother (Jaya Bachhan), her brow furrowed by financial worry, and the perceived burden of two unmarried daughters. The daughters themselves – Badki (Mukherjee) and Chutki (Konkona) are spirited enough, and striving to be “worthy” daughters.

Of course Ma’s sewing isn’t going to fill the family coffers. So with mouths to feed and a haveli to maintain and fight for, and Dad frothing at the mouth about not having a son, the elder daughter decides to go to Bombay to find work. However in desperation and with penury looming, she becomes a prostitute. Filthy lucre is in, poverty out. But hai, that honor !

This film has good intentions and a social message of sorts. The re-integration of so-called “fallen” women is what it deals with. But instead of liberally dosing the script with common sense, this film is a clear case of S.O.S – Stupidity On Screen. The characters are colored in with bold strokes of black and white – there are no greys here. And unfortunately all the “good” people are either blind or stupid (probably the latter). The director seems to want it all – the peppy rythms of a well-choreographed dance number and the innocence of a rural belle set upon by mean, hungry, corporate wolves !

Rani does well enough in this pathetic, I-can-see-it-coming role. Konkona, the fine actress that she is, gives it her all. Dependable Kher is good too. As for Jaya Bachhan, she does a “Nirupa Roy”, but Ms. Roy was so much better. Mrs. Bachhan appears to be getting crochety with age; even her smiling countenance appears a grimace. I’m now so over sobbing, selfless, helpless filmi Moms.

There is no saving grace in this film, folks. Kunal Kapoor comes close, but no cigar. Abhishek is OK; a dance number featuring the four young ‘uns is the highlight of the film. The film grinds on about the clichéd, impoverished family hanging on to the last vestiges of honor, of maintaining a façade of respectability, and punishing it’s women. Haven’t we seen it all before ? It’s basically the stuff you loathed in the 80s come to bite you in the 2000s. It fits like a square peg in a round hole.

Curiosity killed the cat. What I know now is that predictability killed the film.