DIRECTOR: Pradeep Sarkar (of Parineeta fame)
CAST: Rani Mukherjee, Jaya Bachchan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Anupam Kher, Kunal Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan, Hema Malini (interesting cameo)
PLOT: On the sepia toned, idyllic banks of the Ganga in Benaras, live the Sahay family, consisting of "Ma" (Jaya Bachchan), "Baoji" (Anupam Kher), and two beautiful, vivacious daughters Badki aka Vibhavari (Rani Mukherjee), and Chutki aka Shubhavari (Konkona Sen Sharma). While the daughters go prancing about their city, adding beauty to the already seemingly perfect Benaras...alls really not well within the family. The Sahay family is crumbling under the pressure of debt, a lawsuit, and financial worries.
The oldest daughter Vibhavari decides to go to Mumbai and earn some money for her family. Tries all the honest ways possible....but a 10th std pass girl doesnt quite cut it in cutthroat Mumbai. Finally, a shark type man offers her a job in exchange for sleeping with him. She does it (after unwitting encouragement from her mother), but doesnt quite get the job even then....although she is offered money for services rendered. That changes her life forever and to support her family, she decides to become a highly paid "escort" and gets a new name "Natasha" to go with her new avatar .
As Natasha prospers and flourishes in her new found career, so does her family. Her sister Chutki grows up, becomes a successful advertising executive, falls in love with a delectable colleague Vivaan (Kunal Kapoor). Vibhavari herself finds a "love" interest Rohan (Abhishek Bachchan), but doesnt quite pursue it wholeheartedly! Movie meanders around till the end when everyone finds out the truth, and miraculously BOTH sisters are united with their loved ones and live happily ever after!
MY TAKE:
In todays age of movie going in India, where writers rule the roost and interesting plotlines and characters like that in Chak De India, Johnny Gaddar attract audiences, there is NO excuse for Yash Raj Productions to give audiences empty gloss and no substance. That IS what "Laaga chunari mein.." is, a pretty, one dimensional picture with no depth.
Up until the point where Rani’s character struggles to find her footing in Mumbai, finally succumbs to the lure of prostitution..the movie holds some promise. But the scene where she meets the letchy Call Centre boss in his office and just looks at him blankly and gives him a pathetic excuse of a slap...that is where the movie comes crumbling to its downfall. Had the character had the guts to take the money he was offering then, actually SHOW some of the ugliness that the man had inflicted on her face....the movie would have taken a different turn.
Instead, what we see is a pristine, gorgeous call girl, living in a fantastic apartment, going out with men who actually escort her to her car like gentleman.....it is really hard to empathise with her or feel sorry for her. The reason being that at NO POINT does the director actually capture the soul destroying ugliness that prostitution could possibly inflict on a human being. Coz you see, being a Yash Raj movie, everything has to be beautiful at all times.
The most interesting scenes are the ones that involve a cameo by Hema Malini, who plays a courtesan in Benaras. She says it all in her second encounter with Rani’s character (after Rani becomes an escort)..where she holds Rani’s face in her hands and says, "you still have beautiful, innocent eyes"....thats the problem!!!
With such a poor excuse of a storyline, it is really hard to appreciate the characters, actors. They are all good actors in their own right, but they really should pick their scripts more carefully. The music is pleasant, but nothing to rave about. The cinematography, sets, costumes, camera work is outstanding...had they been supported by a good story as well, we might have had a classy little movie like Parineeta on our hands!
So Mr. Pradeep Sarkar, stick to directing simple love stories, especially under the Yash Raj banner.....leave the gutsy, gritty story ideas to more brave, accomplished directors!!