The wordings of the citation by the Film Federation of India describing why Laapataa Ladies has been sent for the Oscars has kicked up a storm on social media. The citation opens with “Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance…” which didn’t sit well with many on X and they called out the sexist nature of the sentence. Many even pointed out that the selection committee at the federation consisted of 13 members and all of them were men.
“FFI official statement about selection of #laapataladies is RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY (& ironic) “Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance. It shows that women can happily desire to be home makers as well as rebel” Who wrote this sh!t?” wrote one. Another posted a document revealing the list of members of the selection committee and wrote sarcastically, “Nice to see so many women in the committee! No wonder why the citation is against the film itself.”
“Film Federation of India’s citation on Laapataa Ladies. “Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance.” “Strange mixture”? Really!!?? That’s the best you could come up with as an opening line,” wrote an X user.
The rest of the description of the film in the same document reads: "Well-defined, powerful characters in one world a Laapata Ladies (hindi) captures this diversity perfectly, though in a semi-idyllic world and in a tongue-in-cheek way. It shows you that women can happily desire to be home makers as well as rebel and be entrepreneurially inclined. A story that can simultaneously be seen as one that needs change, and one that can bring about change (sic)."
Directed by Kiran Rao, Laapataa Ladies follows the story of a recently married Deepak Kumar, who goes home with his bride. However, as soon as she pulls the cover off her face, it is revealed that she is not the same girl he had married. Faced with a huge dilemma, Deepak goes to the police station to lodge a complaint about his missing wife.
The film features Sparsh Shrivastava, Pratibha Ranta, Nitanshi Goel, Ravi Kishan and Chhaya Kadam. It is based on a story by Biplab Goswami, and the screenplay and dialogues are written by Sneha Desai. The film’s additional dialogues have been penned by Divyanidhi Sharma. Presented by Jio Studios, Laapataa Ladies is produced by Aamir Khan and Jyoti Deshpande. It is currently streaming on Netflix.
