Aamir Khan not only has a nose for picking up a different script but also introduces people to his films in a special way. When he sniffed the potential in a short story by Biplav Goswami and pointed Kiran Rao towards it, he waited until Laapataa Ladies was complete before he put Spice, his favourite PR team, on the job of promoting it with a personal touch. We learnt about the film only when we were invited to Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s preview theatre to watch the trailer and meet Kiran. It was while we stood talking about it outside the small theatre that Kiran readily accepted that the peppy background score (by Ram Sampath) added to the pleasantly humorous tone of the film.
Much before it was released, instead of a general screening, every media person was given a choice of date and time to watch Laapataa Ladies in the privacy of one of Aamir’s offices which, incidentally, is in the same building where he and his family live. In fact, Aamir, who wants to redevelop the property, practically owns the entire building at the foot of Pali Hill with only one family reportedly refusing to sell to him. But he owns so many apartments there that his 90+ mother, Kiran, kids... all have independent spaces and yet are around for one another. It gives Aamir a sense of satisfaction to be in control, be the lord of all he surveys, as there’s room for office work too. And so, it was at Aamir’s Marina Apartments that one first saw India’s well-picked entry for the 97th Oscars.
But there hasn’t been a unanimous reception to this year’s choice. In 2015, Kiran had made unwelcome noises about being apprehensive of the prevailing atmosphere in India. That was dug up, prompting a certain group to root for Randeep Hooda’s Veer Savarkar over Laapataa…, although, ironically, it was “nationalist” Ravi Kishen who stole the show in Rao’s film.
The truth is, any film — even Ranbir Kapoor’s chauvinistic Animal — can go to the Oscars like Rajamouli’s RRR did, on its own steam. But every country can submit only one entry for the Best International Feature Film award and India’s official choice this year is Laapataa…
What makes Kiran Rao’s rib-tickling film the perfect choice is that it has an energy so different from the sombre cinema that we have traditionally considered award-worthy. Like last year, our official entry was a Malayalam film called 2018: Everyone Is A Hero, on the floods that devastated Kerala. But it was the far more commercial RRR and its feisty Naatu Naatu that made a splash.
Kiran Rao’s film is also the right pick because it packages rural India and gender emancipation without the cliché of volatile feminism or sorrowful victimhood. Although the entertainment industry is believed to be male dominated, picking Kiran Rao’s film over Animal, Savarkar or Kalki 2898, also emits a soft but firm message.
And let’s not forget that the biggest hit of the year is titled Stree 2 and she has brought in the best ROI or Return on Investment ever.
Pathaan, Jawan and Animal made worldwide collections of ₹900-1,100 crore. But they cost ₹200-300 crore and the heroes went home with upwards of ₹50 crore each, plus a share of the profits. The ROI thus works out to a maximum of four times the cost.
Rajkummar Rao who gets flogged if he hikes his fee to ₹30 crore, powered Stree 2 which cost ₹60-70 crore. It is estimated to collect over ₹800 crore, making it an ROI of more than 10 times its cost.
Laapataa Ladies, which had an investment of barely ₹5 crore, recorded collections of five times its budget.
However, those who lament the superior status of the male in the film industry do have a valid point. While the discussion is always about the take-home salary of the hero, the stree called Shraddha Kapoor who played the title role, was reportedly paid the princely fee of ₹5 crore.
