'Laapataa Ladies' writer Sneha Desai speaks about writers and characters being celebrated through the Kiran Rao directorial
Stills from Laapataa Ladies
Kiran Rao made her second directorial after 13 years of her first film. 'Laapataa Ladies' backed by Aamir Khan's production house hit the theatres in March this year. While the film was critically praised the box office numbers did not reflect the praises. However, the film got a new life when it was dropped on Netflix last month. Sneha Desai, who wrote the screenplay and dialogues of the film based on Biplab Goswami's story, is over the moon with the response towards the film.
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“It's very heartwarming to see writers and the writing being celebrated,” says Sneha talking to mid-day.com days after the film’s Netflix release. Sneha has been busy looking at the posts made by netizens on social media praising different aspects of the film. Every character in the film has been receiving a lot of love from viewers.
Aamir Khan with writer Sneha Desai
Among them is the character of Manju Mai which is effortlessly essayed by veteran actress Chhaya Kadam. Her character plays a vital role in shaping the innocent and lost Phool Kumari’s life perspective. However, Manju Mai was the last character added to the script. Sharing some interesting information about the character, Desai revealed, “Manju Mai was the last character that entered the script. She was not a part of the story at all. When we were writing Phool and Jaya, we felt one was the victim and the other was a dynamic personality and yet a victim of circumstances. Both the characters were vulnerable in a certain way.”
“Jaya, of course, had a little more agency than what Phool had. But we wanted one character who balanced both these women, who had seen it all, who had been there, done that, had the wisdom about feminism. There was a sense of bitterness in her which she did not want to pass on to the next generation,” Sneha added revealing that the character was Kiran Rao's idea which she later developed.
The character of Deepak essayed by Sparsh Shrivastava was a role that stood out. Distressed after losing his wife, Deepak’s aim through the film was to worry about both Phool and Jaya and the way the local police treated the case. Desai revealed that on script Deepak was the weakest character but credited Sparsh for taking the character a notch up with his performance. "Deepak doesn't really have much to do in the film except to be worried about his wife and be worried about where he's going to send Jaya,” she shared.
“There's no real step that he takes except for just looking for his way out. And yet, Sparsh has essayed it so beautifully that your heart goes out to him. There's no real love story between Deepak and Phool and yet you can feel that there is so much love between the two of them,” says Desai reflecting on Deepak and his role in the film that is centered around two brides who get lost only to find themselves later on.
Desai added, “We wanted him to stand for the men in our lives who are good and supportive. It's not always men who victimise women. At times women are victims of their own circumstances, of their own overthinking and of their own over analysis of things. I think Deepak is a tribute to all those men who are their heart and soul in the right place.”
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