Movie was premiered at 2023 Toronto International Film Festival
There is a universality to women’s experiences across classes and a lot of it goes unrepresented in cinema, says director Kiran Rao who has attempted to tell a story of self-discovery through two brides in her critical hit “Laapataa Ladies”. The film, which had Its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, released in India to glowing reviews on March 1 and is still enjoying a run in theatres. Rao, who promoted her second directorial effort across tier-one cities and small towns, said the women she met have probably not experienced being under the veil, but they could still identify with the issues explored in the movie, set in rural India in the year 2001.
She talked about classes
“There’s some sort of universality in a woman’s experience across classes and a lot of that goes unacknowledged, unseen or unrepresented in cinema,” the filmmaker told PTI in an interview. “Hearing the response to the film, I realised that it’s possible to change the status quo with very small interventions and reclaim some space for ourselves, even within the setup that we, maybe, cannot change. That has been nice to hear from women,” she said.
She talked about taking the movie to villages
“I’m still basking in the love that I’m getting and hoping that more people go and watch it if they have not seen it yet. Going forward, we want to collaborate with organisations that work with communities on gender and women’s issues. “I have put a word out to people I know in the social sector… I really hope to take the film to villages. It’s not a short-term plan, we’ll build organically.”
She talked about word of mouth
The director said “word of mouth” has been her biggest support in taking the film, which stars Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Srivastav, and Ravi Kishan. “I’m grateful for that because it means there are people who will go out to watch a film without stars only on the basis of the trailer,” she added There have been some lessons along the way as well for the filmmaker, whose last release was her debut “Dhobi Ghat” in 2011.
She talked about promotions
“You need a multi-pronged marketing campaign to reach people across the country because we have a diverse audience. There are some things that I would do differently when I make my next one,” she said. “It’s been crazy but in between promotional trips, I went to Bengaluru, I could spend a night with my parents. And that’s always wonderful because the comfort of just hearing your parents puttering around, having that morning cup of coffee with them, not necessarily needing to talk if you don’t want to, but also having loads to share with them, helped me along through it all,” she said.
She managed to have little expeditions
The director said she also managed to have “little expeditions” on her own while travelling from one city to another to promote “Laapataa Ladies”, which she backed via her Kindling Pictures alongside Aamir Khan Productions, the company run by former actor husband. Rao, who worked as an assistant director on films such as “Lagaan” and “Monsoon Wedding” and produced “Taare Zameen Par” and “Peepli Live”, has many more stories planned and hopes that the gap between her movies will not be long.