Kiran Rao told THE WEEK in February that she rejected Aamir Khan for a role in Laapataa Ladies. Having seen Ravi Kishan play the corrupt cop in the movie, it is now difficult to imagine anyone else in his shoes, even Aamir Khan.
The humour relies on the dialect and the Bhojpuri touch is right up Kishan's alley. This contributed to the supporting character becoming a memorable part of the movie, he was in absolute sync with the flavours of Laapataa Ladies.
The rest of the cast has also done a stellar job. The two lead ladies, Nitanshi Goel and Pratibha Ranta, justified their roles. It was a wise choice to cast newcomers to these roles as familiarity could have killed the freshness of the portrayals. Sparsh Shrivastava, as the man who lost his wife, is subtly convincing and emotive when needed. In fact, every actor leaves a mark.
The music, cinematography and editing make sure that the movie remains engaging throughout. But the MVP in the category, unarguably, is the dialogues. There are several moments in the film that make you laugh out loud. More importantly, the dialogues enable Laapataa Ladies to say its piece without being preachy and cleverly conceal jibes behind humour.
The only minor issue with the movie was that some of the characters felt slightly formulaic. However, the director has managed to balance the predictability of these familiar sorts of characters by allotting a fresh kind of interaction to each of them. There is beautifully layered social commentary in their conversations.
Kiran Rao's comeback movie, which ended a 13-year break, is a delight to watch. And we can't forget the writers Biplab Goswami, Divyanidhi Sharma and Sneha Desai, who deserve as much credit as their director.
Film: Laapataa Ladies
Director: Kiran Rao
Cast: Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, Bhaskar Jha, Geeta Agarwal, Chhaya Kadam, Ravi Kishan
Rating: 4/5
