Laapataa Ladies Movie Review: Lol

Literally, on the face of it, the premise of this picture is so preposterous, you might be tempted to dismiss it, within a few minutes into the movie.

Which is that a bride’s eyes are covered in a ghunghat (veil). Therefore, she can barely look straight; her head down, shrouded in cloth, setting a limit to her field of vision (also, metaphorically).

There are two such brides, returning from their weddings, with their respective grooms, on a train. The first husband heads off with the wrong wife into the right station. Only to realise this matrimonial error, once he’s already reached home. That’s not all.

From thereon, the wrong bride so wholly comfortably settles into the wrong husband’s joint family—chilling, chit-chatting, over days—you’d think nobody’s quite bothered by this strangest domestic intrusion. As if that’s the way it was meant to be.

Is this some sorta pulpy pic on wife-swapping? Oh, hell, no! Loopholes apart, let’s first place Laapataa Ladies, in terms of genre, then.

I’d go with a feminist comedy, if there’s such a thing; and why should there not be. Or, more likely, a rural romcom in the garb of a kinda thriller, if you may. Or even a romance, down to the station/airport finale. It’s this genre mashup/bender that makes this movie all the more intriguing.

And, no, it really doesn’t matter if the plot, per se, makes logical sense—they fill up enough holes along the way for a reasonably realistic ride. Which starts with the Great Indian Railway phenomenon called “adjusting” on seats, packing in double the number of people that can fit into a single berth in a compartment.