Review: Laaga Chunari... glossed-up Balaji serial | Pics

NOT SO KIND: You don't muster up any sympathy for Rani’s character, because it doesn't evoke any sympathy.

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Keywords: Rani Mukherjee, Lagaa Chunir Mein Daag

Outdated and regressive, director Pradeep Sarkar's Laaga Chunari Mein Daag is one of those embarrassing films that looks like it checked into the cinemas some thirty years too late.

Now the truth is, the same story was made exactly thirty years ago, as the Mumtaz-starrer Aaina, but I think most of us would like to believe that has very little relevance and absolutely no resonance in today's times.

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag is the story of a young girl in Benares , played by Rani Mukherjee, who moves to the big, bad city of Mumbai looking for a job, when her family falls upon hard times. Uneducated, and possessing no skills that could find her employment of any kind, she's left with no option but to turn to the world's oldest profession in order to earn a living. Flush with funds now, Rani is able to rescue her family from abject poverty, but can she face them with the truth?

My biggest problem with Laaga Chunari Mein Daag has nothing to do with how the film is made, it's really about why this film was made. To remake a regressive film that was first made in the ‘70s, is to say that nothing has changed in all these years. And that's my problem with this film.

Pointing out holes in the script of Laaga Chunari Mein Daag could make for a highly entertaining after-dinner game with friends. It's shocking how nobody associated with the film pointed out those glaring errors.

The film is predictable from the moment you settle into your seat to the moment the lights come back on in the end, even the dialogues are the sort you've heard so many times before. But the big reason why this film fails is because there's no real drama in the story at all. Think about it - you don't muster up any sympathy for Rani after she becomes a prostitute, because she doesn't evoke any sympathy. Marble flooring, she instructs her father when he says he's getting the family home repaired. Sympathy? I'm sorry she's not getting any from me!

Even the film's climax lacks conflict, ending on a note that's more convenient than dramatic.

Of the cast, Jaya Bachchan and Konkona Sen Sharma as the protagonist's mother and sister respectively, try their best to infuse life into characters that are nothing else but stereotypes of the worst order. It's left to Rani Mukherjee eventually, to pump credibility into what is undoubtedly one of her worst written roles yet. And although Rani does perform competently, it's sadly not enough to save this tragic film from its doomed fate.

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag suffers from the same disease that Sooraj Barjatya's Vivaah did before it - disguised as a film that claims to be socially relevant, it's actually a highly regressive film.

I'm going with one out of five for director Pradeep Sarkar's Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, a colossal disappointment from the man who gave us the sensitive and heart-warming Parineeta. This one is just a glossed-up Balaji tele-serial, and to be honest I wouldn't blame Ekta Kapoor if she were offended by the comparison.

Rating: 1 / 5 (Poor)