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A small film with no big stars can also flourish at the box office with positive word of mouth. This was the learning filmmaker Kiran Rao, Aamir Khan and the rest of the team behind the upcoming film, Laapataa Ladies, took from the success of Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 12th Fail. In fact, much before the success of 12th Fail, Aamir, who has co-produced the film under his production banner Aamir Khan Films, suggested showing the film for free on the day of its release to entice audience to the theatres.
Kiran Rao, the director of Laapataa Ladies, recently explained why, unlike Hollywood, where film studios market their films by holding premieres, not just for their friends and family, but also to people outside their close circle, Bollywood studios are wary about showing their film in advance. She told indianexpress.com, “It’s the norm in most parts of the world where the media is shown the film well in advance so that they can write with some thought and distance from the film. I feel it’s really important we also start doing that because if we want reviewers and film writers to think about the film and then write about it with some thought, we need to give them time.”
Laapataa Ladies, which releases on March 1, was shown to the media much in advance. Kiran attended most of the screenings that were organised in Jaipur, Delhi, Lucknow, IIM Bangalore and Ahmedabad. On Tuesday, Aamir Khan hosted his friends in the film industry, including Salman Khan, Kajol, and Sunny Deol, at the screening of the film in Mumbai.
Kiran reflected on why Bollywood filmmakers, unlike their Hollywood counterparts, are uncomfortable in showcasing their films to journalists before their theatrical release. She said, “It often is not the case because people are perhaps worried about bad reviews. They want to keep it for as late as possible so that the reviewers don’t get the time…I am not sure what the idea is behind it.”
However, she and Aamir are confident about Laapataa Ladies, a film set in the hinterland of India tells the story of two brides, with their goonghat (veil) who get swapped in a train. “We are fairly confident about the product. We have a film which we think is a good film. Word of mouth is the best way for any film to spread especially when it is a small film like ours,” Kiran said, while adding, “This is something Aamir felt very strongly a long time ago. Even before 12th Fail, Aamir’s idea was that the best advertisement for this film is to show this film. He had all kinds of ideas.”
Aamir told Kiran to hold free shows of the movie on the day of its release. He said, “First day, let’s just make it free. Let everybody watch it. That first day’s collection that you would lose doesn’t matter. Show it to everybody, come whoever wants to come to the cinema, then your word of mouth will grow and create that need to consume.”
Besides Aamir’s suggestion, Kiran got the confidence to hold screenings of Laapataa Ladies before its release from the success of Vikran Massey-led 12th Fail.
“12th Fail did create a fantastic example for all of us, a precedent of sorts, of how effective word of mouth is to push a film. So, we did keep that in mind and thought we would show it to journalists because that way conversations with the journalists can be in the context of the film,” opined Kiran, who has earlier directed Dhobi Ghaat (2010).
The story of Laapataa Ladies came to Kiran through Aamir, who judged a screenwriting competition organised by Cinestaan in 2018. “This was a script submitted by Biplab Goswami, and then it was called Two Brides. Aamir loved the story. It went on to win the second prize in the competition. He came home and said, ‘There is a superb story. I will just tell you in one line.’ He gave me the one-liner about two girls going on a train and getting swapped. The boy reaches home and sees that it’s the wrong girl. I was like, ‘What happens next? It’s the kind of story that you need to know, ‘Fir kya hua?'” shared the filmmaker.
Aamir and Kiran acquired the story from Biplab and roped in screenwriter Sneha Desai to refine it, or as Kiran put it, “create magic with it”. Sneha, with her ‘sparkling’ writing, managed to keep Laapataa Ladies entertaining, while raising some fitting questions about the ways of the society.
“We were clear about what we wanted to say, but in the way Sneha wrote it, with sparkling dialogues, it’s so funny. It’s so pertinent and correct. It’s neither a critique nor are we passing judgements. At the same time, funnily, we are questioning many things. I give credit to Sneha for the tone of the film,” said Kiran. She also credited Sneha for coming up with ‘unique’ names for villages in the film, which do not exist in real, hence nobody would be offended. Sneha skimmed through Britannica Atlas to ensure the names she chooses doesn’t exist in reality. “She not only used ‘Pateela’ and ‘Murti’ because they didn’t exist but also for the comedic value.”
Laapataa Ladies is headlined by actors Sparsh Srivastav, Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Satendra Soni, Chhaya Kadam, Ravi Kishan, and others. Aamir Khan auditioned for the role played by Ravi Kishen, but he agreed with Kiran on Kishen being a better fit for the role. Besides his role, the actor could have done a cameo in the film, feels Kiran, but he was caught up with Laal Singh Chaddha when she was shooting the film.
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