6598 films, 8369 profiles, and counting
FOLLOW US ON
Lajja
 |
|
Hindi, Drama, 2001, Color
Cast And Crew
| Starring | |
| Guest Appearance | |
| Directed by | |
| Produced by | |
| Story | |
| Screenplay | |
| Dialogue | |
| Cinematography | |
| Music | |
| Lyrics | |
| Background Score | |
| Art Direction |
A famous cartoon by noted British film director Alan Parker shows a depressed filmmaker being consoled at a bar. He is told - Milt, it was an Oscar-winning concept, a good treatment, a so-so script, a mediocre director, a dire cast and a rotten movie! One cannot help but feel the same with Raj Kumar Santoshi's latest offering Lajja which beginning with noble intentions (woman empowerment) and a great idea finally makes for a disappointing, overblown, loud, crass and yes pretty, rotten film.
To quote Santoshi, Lajja carries with it a responsibility, for it is not just a film, but a film that says the truth. And saying the truth has seldom been easy. But sadly however after deciding to make this film, one sees the insecurities of a filmmaker just not willing to take risks. In spite of having such a talented star cast and technical crew, Lajja is nothing but a business proposition in the name of revolution. (The film's catch line goes - When tears stop, a revolution begins) What really shocks one in the film is the overt attempt to fit the film into the 'commercial format.' No one is denying that even message oriented films need to have entertainment value to be watched by the maximum number of people but they require a treatment that goes in sync with their content. This is specially true for content heavy films. Lajja goes back to the worst of Hindi melodrama, includes an insufferable comedy track to bring 'relief', an item song that isn't one, finally ending up as a bad cliché ridden 1970s type potboiler totally bereft of any subtlety whatsoever. This is a real pity for Santoshi had everything going for him to come up with a thoughtful, sensitive film and instead delivers a dud that hurts your sensibilities instead.
The film follows the travails of Vaidehi (Manisha Koirala) who breaks away from a suffocating marriage in New York to a man Raghu (Jackie Shroff) who takes her for granted and has no respect for her feelings. Raghu has an accident and is declared impotent. But Vaidehi is pregnant and Raghu tries to win her back only to get the child and then do away with her. Initially taken in by his sweet talking, she is all set to go back when she is warned by her doctor who conveniently overheard the conversation between Raghu and his father. Vaidehi runs away from the airport and travels across the country as Raghu comes to India to find her and take her back. She finds herself in a wedding where the boy's family demand dowry from the girl's parents. Finally unable to take it anymore the girl, Maithili (Mahima Choudhury) breaks the marriage. Vaidehi next reaches a small town where she meets Janki (Madhuri Dixit), a nautanki artiste who is lusted after by her boss. Janki, pregnant by her lover, is ditched by him when her boss hints to the lover that she is unfaithful to him. She questions this attitude of not being trusted and in a performance of the Ramayan, where she plays Sita, challenges the validity of the agnee-pareeksha. She is beaten up by the crowd and declared mad. The last episode sees Vaidehi in a small feudal village where the village midwife Ram Dulari (Rekha) does her small bit for women empowerment and even gets a computer for the village but pays for it when her son falls for the Thakur's (Danny) daughter and when the lovers escape with Vaidehi into the territory of a naxalite, Bulwa (Ajay Devgan), Ram Dulari is tortured and killed. This apparently was based on a real life story and supposedly sparked the idea for Lajja. Finally Vaidehi exposes the Thakur, who is standing for election, at a public gathering where he is killed by Bulwa and goes back to her husband when he begs forgiveness. They have a girl whom they name...Ram Dulari!
The only redeeming performances in the cast come from Madhuri Dixit and to a certain extent Rekha. Madhuri rises way, way above the script and reaffirms what a fine actress she is and one cannot but empathize with her that there are few decent roles available in mainstream Hindi Cinema for an actress of her age. Rekha is her usual expert self. Manisha in spite of being the central protagonist has nothing to do except supposedly be influenced by the various women she encounters resulting in a painful speech she gives at the climax of the film. Even the technical embellishments in the film are absent in spite of technicians like Madhu Ambat and Ilayaraja involved.
The film is cliché-ridden with stereotypical situations that come rushing along at you at every turn. Vaidehi's parents tell her it is better for for a girl to be dead than divorced, the entire wedding sequence of Maithili which is the weakest episode of the film and nothing but full of cardboard characters and straight out of the Jurassic age, Raghu's eyes opening when Bhulwa is about to kill him and Vaidehi pleads with him not to...the list goes on. One is not denying that these problems exist even in society today but surely they could have been treated in a sensitive and refreshing manner. Instead Santoshi aims to grab you by the gut and hit you in the solar plexus and say see what a hard hitting film I've made. The films looks over directed with even the heavy symbolism - the red cloth stuck in barbed wire, or trampled by men's feet or burned being literally forced down your throat. And please note that all the women characters are named after Sita, the ultimate tribute to the suffering Indian woman!
What's disturbing in the film is that the women who dare take a stand of their own are rejected by society and their security and salvation is ultimately in the arms of men. Even Vaidehi, for whom her travails are supposed to be an eye-opener, goes back to her impotent husband when he says he is sorry conveniently forgetting the shit he put her through. Janki is declared mad by society who beat her unborn child out of her and Ram Dulari dies a horrific death. Even Maithili who takes a stand by hitting out at her dowry hungry in-laws and breaking her marriage finally breaks down and cries that it is all her fault when the wedding doesn't take place and the baraat goes back. Truly gobsmacking!
To be fair to Santoshi, there are a couple of sequences in the film which are vintage Santoshi - the Ramayan sequence where Janki playing Sita, combining her personal and professional life, questions the validity of Sita's agni-pareeksha or the scene where Ram Dulari is tortured before being killed - truly horrific or even the bonding sequences between Janki and Vaidehi - the whistling sequence in the cinema theatre for instance but that's about it. Santoshi frequently opts for loudness to make his point whereas at times perhaps silence could have been more effective but...
Unfortunately by the end of the film, the tears may stop for the women in the film but not so for the viewer for whom the entire film becomes quite an insufferable experience. After watching Lajja one is stilling waiting for a director who would be bold enough to make a film on a issue like this which would spark a revolution because Lajja is certainly not it.
- Comments
- News
Recent
- Reviews
- Films
- People
- Blogs
| Lahore Lahore has garnered quite a bit of curiosity, what with its massive publicity campaign, the interesting poster ... |
| Right Yaaa Wrong Practically nothing is right and plenty wrong in this tacky, inept thriller that was shot way back in 2007 but has manag... |
| Hide & Seek What is it about thrillers, suspense films, murder mysteries, and whodunits that keeps filmmakers trying their luck with... |
| Lahore Lahore has garnered quite a bit of curiosity, what with its massive publicity campaign, the interesting poster ... |
| Adhurs NTR (Jr removed from his name) fans will love Adhurs. Those who do not, are adhur-wise. In short, if you love t... |
| I'm The Very Beautiful! Every festival throws up one or two films that overwhelm all else and make the festival memorable. I attended the last V... |
popular
Lata Mangeshkar
Hema Malini
Dharmendra
Rajesh Khanna
Mohammed Rafi
Kishore Kumar
Amitabh Bachchan
Dilip Kumar
RD Burman
Geeta Dutt
Chirodini Tumi Je Amaar
Dev Anand
Madhubala
Suriya
Waheeda Rehman
Raj Kapoor
MG Ramachandran
Sivaji Ganesan
Noor Jehan
Asha Bhosle
Suchitra Sen
Mani Rathnam
Satyajit Ray
Naushad
Vyjayanthimala
Shammi Kapoor
Prithviraj Kapoor
Uttam Kumar
Guru Dutt
Mughal-e-Azam
Sahir Ludhianvi
Mukesh
Sanjeev Kumar
Savithri
Yash Chopra
Madhuri Dixit
Katrina Kaif
Suraiya
Me Shivajiraje Bhosale Boltoy
Sridevi
film releases
Thanks everyone for your comments. @Akash: High time for Suriya the actor to choose his films now
Ahhh Karan, this is a great read man! I have had the privilege of being in the same school and cl
Insightful indeed ! Karan has the ability to dig deeper to reveal small details that make his writin
He has a down to earth charming quality about him that's infectious. Good introductory piece on him,
For someone who doesn't know Tamil cinema or Suriya at all, this is a really good introduction. I li