Kiran Rao’s directorial debut ‘Laapataa Ladies’ has hit the theatres on 1st March 2024 receiving a mixed reception from the critics and the audiences. Amid this, its director Kiran Rao in an exclusive interview with the media channel ‘The Lallantop’ happened to discuss the development of the Indian Railways and seemed ‘inconvenienced’ with the fact that the govt is trying to make the Railway stations look ‘fancy’ and modern.
“Laapataa Ladies” is a 2001 film set in rural India that tells the tale of two young brides who get separated on a train and explore the consequences as their families and a police officer look into the case. Although the film has struck a chord with its intended demographic, Rao stated that they had to struggle a lot to look for railway stations that resembled the ones in the early 2000s.
“We shot the village parts in Madhya Pradesh, in the small villages. However, all the train sequences have been shot in the Nashik district of Maharashtra. There are two places in Nashik, one is Yeola and Talegaon. The stations there are still old. The movie period set in the time frame of 2001 demanded old, underdeveloped railway stations. But nowadays these people (the government) are trying to make the stations look very fancy. Everything is so chrome and new tiling, etc,” Rao could be heard saying.
The Lallantop’s Saurabh Dwivedi then interrupted, telling Kiran that her comments against the development of railway stations would be trolled on the social media, to which Kiran agreed and joked that that clip should be cut.
Imagine the speed of development under @narendramodi..
— Rohit (@Iam_Rohit_G) March 13, 2024
India's biggest Bollywood Directors are unable to find old, ugly Railway stations for shooting anymore..
All stations are being redeveloped and upgraded with modern families.. pic.twitter.com/4gvgHk2yT6
It may be recalled that in 2015, speaking on alleged “increasing intolerance” in the country, Aamir Khan claimed his ex-wife Kiran Rao had suggested leaving India as she felt “unsafe” in the country. Six years later, in 2021, the couple announced divorce.
