Laaga Chunari Mein Daag: Journey of a Woman (2007)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Pradeep Sarkar

Writer:

Pradeep Sarkar (writer)

Release Date:

12 October 2007 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Based in Varanasi, Shivshankar Sahay lives a poor lifestyle along with his wife, Savitri, and two daughters...

Plot Keywords:

Poverty | Title Based On Song | Prostitute

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Rani Mukherjee	...	Vibhavari 'Badki' S. Sahay / Natasha (as Rani Mukherji)
Abhishek Bachchan	...	Rohan Verma
Konkona Sen Sharma	...	Subhavari 'Chutki' S. Sahay
Jaya Bhaduri	...	Savitri S. Sahay
Kunal Kapoor	...	Vivaan Varma
Anupam Kher	...	Shivshankar 'Shibu' Sahay
Hema Malini	...	Dulariya
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bharati Achrekar	...	Sahay's neighbor
Tinnu Anand	...	Rajshankar 'Rajjo' Sahay
Harsh Chhaya
Ninad Kamat
Kamini Kaushal	...	Mrs. Verma
Ameya Pandya
Suchitra Pillai-Malik	...	Michelle
Taraana Raja	...	Sophia
Murli Sharma
Shriya Sharma
Sushant Singh	...	Ratan R. Sahay

Directed by
Pradeep Sarkar

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Pradeep Sarkar		writer

Produced by
Aditya Chopra	....	producer
Pradeep Sarkar	....	producer

Original Music by
Shantanu Moitra

Cinematography by
Sushil Rajpal

Costume Design by
Subarna Ray Chaudhuri
Manish Malhotra
Sabyasachi Mukherji
Shiraz Siddique

Sound Department
Andrew Belletty	....	sound recordist
Anuj Mathur	....	sound re-recording mixer

Visual Effects by
Ken Metzker	....	digital intermediate colorist
Abhilash Nanda	....	roto artist
Rajiv Raghunathan	....	senior digital intermediate producer

Editorial Department
Ken Metzker	....	digital intermediate colorist

Music Department
Rekha Bharadwaj	....	playback singer
Pranab Biswas	....	playback singer
Sunidhi Chauhan	....	playback singer
Shreya Ghoshal	....	playback singer
Kay Kay	....	playback singer
Swanand Kirkire	....	playback singer
Mahalakshmi	....	playback singer
Shubha Mudgal	....	playback singer
Sonu Nigam	....	playback singer
Babul Supriyo	....	playback singer
Mita Vasisht	....	playback singer

Other crew
Fayyaz Badruddin	....	publicity designer
Amber Qureshi	....	head office
Deepak Rawat	....	assistant publicity designer
Howard Rosemeyer	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• Apocalypse Filmworks Productions
• Yash Raj Films

Distributors

• Yash Raj Films (2007) (India) (theatrical)

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi | Bhojpuri

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:12A

Filming Locations:

Benares, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Company:

Apocalypse Filmworks Productions

Movie Connections:

References Chak De! India (2007)

Soundtrack:

Ehi Thaiyaa Motiya

A Movie That Has To Be Seen At least Once

There was a song by a similar title, sung many years back by the legendary K.L. Saigal.

Based on the old format about poverty, a movie production company hires a place in the Northern Indian city of Benares, where two sisters, Natasha and Chutki live with their parents. The father, Shivshankar Sahay, is against renting out his house to the movie company but has to accept it due to financial reasons. One night, upon request from one of the female members of the company, Natasha and Chutki go and watch a dance against their parents wishes. At the end of the performance, the three visit the female dancer, who tells Natasha that she is very pretty. But soon events turn for the worse and the movie production company, who had paid the family for the use of their house for filming, decide to withdraw and demand to have their money back. In the meantime, Natasha, who has had to leave college and help at home, has to admit her father to a hospital as he suffers heart problems and has to pay for him to be admitted. She decides to go to Mumbai and get a job as an actress as the female member of the movie had promised her. But nothing works out and in order to support her family, Natasha is forced to make up her mind as what she wants to do. But events force her to turn into a high class prostitute.

This is one movie, that Rani Mukherjee, as Natasha, tries to show her versatility as an actress and has proved it. The other bit of excellent acting is by Jaya Bachchan as her mother and also Abhishek and Konkona Sen. But Hema Malini, who makes a special appearance as the dancer, is just magnificent even though she's in it as "special appearance." The movie also stars Tinu Anand as Shishankar Sahay's evil brother.

Conclusion: This is worth watching at least once.