Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 8 : Producer and director Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies was one of those low-budget Indian films which created wonders at the Indian box office, OTT platform and international film festivals in 2024.
Despite the lack of renowned Bollywood stars in the movie, Kiran said that she felt incredible after her film surpassed Ranbir Kapoor's Animal viewership numbers on the streaming giant Netflix.
Kiran, known for producing critically acclaimed movies like Peepli Live, Talaash, and Secret Superstar, directed Laapataa Ladies. It was released last year and starred debutants Nitanshi Goel and Pratibha Sinha and actor Sparsh Shrivastava of 'Collar Bomb' fame in the lead roles.
After a successful run in the theatres, Kiran's Laapataa Ladies gave a tough fight to Ranbir Kapoor's Animal on Netflix and broke several records on the OTT platform.
While speaking with ANI, Kiran expressed her happiness about crossing the viewership numbers of the multi-starrer film Animal- one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films in 2023- on the OTT giant Netflix after their debut in 2024.
"We beat their numbers. That was a real high because, honestly, it was such a big film (Ranbir starrer Animal). It had done such huge business. Our film broke a lot of that kind of records on OTT, which we could not do in the theatres," said Kiran Rao.
The 'Peepli Live' producer further shared her thought process behind the making of the Laapataa Ladies and said that she was aware of the realistic limitations of the film as it had a minimal budget and no big stars. Despite this, Kiran believed in the content and trusted her team.
"We stayed within a realistic daira (boundaries) because we knew we didn't have stars. There was so much trust in what we wanted to make with both Aamir and Jyoti Deshmande from Jio. We were kind of very convinced of what we were doing. We were staying within a very manageable price bracket, and what we needed to therefore achieve in the box office, we achieved."
Kiran continued, "It was for me an incredible time to see that a film that, you know, like you said, had no known faces could do so well with word of mouth, which purely because people were, you know, telling each other to go and see it."
'Laapataa Ladies' is a story set in 2001 in rural India about two young brides who get separated during a train journey and what happens when Kishan, a police officer, takes it upon himself to probe the missing case.
The film received a standing ovation during its screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. 'Laapataa Ladies' is produced by a team that has collaborated for such hits as 'Delhi Belly', 'Dangal', and 'Peepli Live'.
Presented by Jio Studios, 'Laapataa Ladies' is directed by Kiran Rao and produced by Aamir Khan and Jyoti Deshpande. It has been produced under the banner of Aamir Khan Productions and Kindling Productions, with the script by Biplab Goswami.
Sneha Desai wrote the screenplay and dialogue, while Divyanidhi Sharma jotted down the additional lines.
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