Laaga Chunari Mein Daag (2007)

People are voting emotionally.

Memorable, crazy movie

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I remember when this movie first released, and I was told that I was too young to watch it. My mother told me that the theme of the movie was a little mature for my age, so after huffing and puffing, I decided I would wait a little while.So, about two weeks ago, I decided to finally watch it (late much?) ha ha. And well, it was worth the wait. As the movie opened up on screen, I knew from that moment that it would be amazing.This is a story of a family, this is a story of a boy and a girl, this is a story of two sisters, this is a story about the truth of life and what people do for a living to make an income for themselves.Badki and Chutki (Rani Mukherjee and Konkona Sen Sharma) are living happily with their parents (Jaya Bachchan and Anupam Kher) even though Banaras isn't the most glamorous place in India, and neither is their current lifestyle. But all that changes simply when their father gets a heart attack after a certain string of events.Rani Mukherjee rushes to the city where it can all happen, certain that she will make it big and send her family money for her father's medicines and treatment. She is proved wrong. After her qualifications and language barrier preventing her from doing the jobs she tries out for, she only has one solution-prostitution.Now, this is where the movie takes a big leap forward. And you slowly watch the transformation of a small village girl becoming a high level escort, taking the name of Natasha. lying to her family and sending high amounts of money, causes her father happy, her sister excited, and her mother onto what she is doing.This movie is not a tear-jerker, though some scenes may make you cry if you cry easily. Note the scene where Konkona finds out about Natasha and follows her to the hotel and then the breakdown which follows. Or the scene where her life is unfolding in front of her eyes. Or maybe the scene in which she lets the manager of the company take full advantage of her. They all leave a lasting impact on you, even after the movie has finished.Rani Mukherjee proves once again-she can act. We've seen her in many different characters, each with a different state of mind and under different circumstances. Konkona Sen Sharma also acted exceptionally well as the little sister. Kunal Kapoor is very convincing. Abishek Bachchan is just wasted. Anupam Kher is very good. Jaya Bachchan is alright.Definitely worth a watch, but watch this alone, not with family.

I started out with a pretty bleak expectation, to be honest, but it was not all that bad after a 2+ hours.Though I was very impressed the ad-man Pradeep Sarkar's first outing, Parineeta. It was one of the best of that year. I began with expectations of good cinematography. But as the movie unfolded, it was hard to disregard the story to watch each and every frame! Certainly the frames, esp the Benaras ghat scenes were very artistically done. One can be pretty much sure of artistic delight of Pradeep Sarkar's penchant for visuals.Acting wise, it's Rani Mukherjee's solo movie. I don't remember seeing her in a pivotal role in any film. So much so that, her co-star Abhishek Bachchan almost seems a gust appearance in the movie. Kunal Kapoor does good job in his role. (Why does every working professional hero/heroine in the Hindi movies have to do a job in ad-industry?) Konkana SenSharma - the only character I thought was a miscast. A big fan of her, almost all her movies - but her role in this movie looks sorta fake! Its not matter of the middle-class-family daughter in Benaras or working professional (ad-industry, of course) in Bombay. For that matter, last year, Vishaal Bharadwaj shot her beautifully in Omkara! I just think she is not commercial-movie-type. She seems very fake, when trying to dance or sing.Shantanu Moitra's music is passable. 'Hum to aise hain bhaiyya' is hummable by the time you finish watching the movie, because it keeps playing in the movie throughout. This is a typical filmy album, with few happy, a dance number, a sad song, the usual fair. The only song really stands out is the sort of hip-hop number with Mita Vashisth's voice with Shubha Mudgal's rendition of Manna Dey's old classic, 'Laaga chunari mein daag'.Lastly, I am truly happy for Pradeep Sarkar. Here's a man, who came to the industry very late in his career, but I am glad he did. In fact, I think going to Switzerland for Yash Chopra's movies is a must, so he does! But really, he doesn't need to go abroad to make his visuals appealing, he has enough colors in his desi palette to fill the canvas!

I can write a review for this movie in so few words that it will not even sound like a review. CRAP! Acting is brilliant from all the leading ladies. Guys have not much to do. This is where the good news ends. Its all downhill here on. The movie tries to portray that a girl, who wants to prove herself, and runs out of options, has nothing else to do, but turn to selling her body!! This is so demeaning, for women in general. And I am a guy, dunno what women feel about it. And also guys, in this situation, would do what? The movie could at least be set in another period, since this is not possible in current times. The songs are not good, and direction is average. People might be tempted to leave half way.

This fall is supposed to be full of good and bad surprises. All the previews of this flick promised that a treat is likely to come our way. And this is exactly what has gone against this movie.The highlights of the songs weren't too misleading, as far as its catchy tunes are concerned. The plot revolves around a family settled in Benaras. Shivshanker Sahay (Anupam Kher) is a retired man lives in an ancestral house, with two daughters, and his wife, Sabitri (Jaya Bachchan). The elder daughter Vibha (Rani) is more conscious of her parents' old age, their growing anxiety for making both ends meet, and her incapacity as a woman to support her parents as a son would have done. This financial crisis pushes Vibha to fetch for work in a city of opportunities where opportunities are very hard to strike. From this point, the never-ending saga of Vibha turning into Natasha brings a very predictable twist in the story. Chutki (Konkana Sen) is one of the finest artists in Indian cinema. She has done full justice to her role as a younger daughter with little understanding of the family crisis and huge dreams for future. Though it is a very well-executed movie, with finesse of Pradeep Sarkar, and all the right ingredients for a commercial hit, it is a very predictable movie. The reason for its predictability is that the previews not only revealed the entire story, but stole all the surprising elements from it.