Kiran Rao calls Laapataa Ladies’ box office a ‘failure’, says: ‘I feel responsible for the film not doing well’
Renowned filmmaker Kiran Rao marked his return to the director’s chair after a long 14-year hiatus with Laapataaa LadiesStarring Sparsh Shrivastava, Pratibha Ranta, Nitanshi Goel and Ravi Kishan in pivotal roles, the film impressed the audience with its compelling and insightful storyline.
Kiran Bedi on Laapataa Ladies Ticket Office performance
Despite the affection it arouses among viewers on streaming platforms, Laapataaa Ladies The film struggled at the box office. Recently, in a candid interview with Faye D’Souza, Kiran Rao openly acknowledged the film’s disappointing financial results, calling it a “failure” by traditional box office measures.
Drawing comparisons with her previous films, she said, “In a way, both these films (Dhobi Ghat and Laapataa Ladies) didn’t do much at the box office. Dhobi Ghat, in fact, did big business for its time. Ten to fifteen years later, Laapataa Ladies didn’t do much more than Dhobi Ghat. So, in a way, I feel a failure. By box office measures, we weren’t successful. In the conventional sense, we didn’t make hundreds of crores, or even Rs 30, 40, 50 crore. Failure is the way to put it. I feel responsible for the fact that the film didn’t do as well at the box office. I felt it a lot during Dhobi Ghat because we didn’t have an alternative medium, we didn’t have OTT. So it didn’t have a huge audience. I feel like it was a different movie for its time and very unusual for a theatrical release at the time. But other than that, not really. I never felt a deep sense of failure at something.
Beyond the box office numbers, Kiran Rao shared her personal journey and challenges as a creator. She expressed frustration at the long gap between her projects as a director, grappling with the pressures of creative expectations and deadlines in the film industry.
She added: “I think of failure in the sense that I felt it every day. For 10 years, I worked tirelessly. I had very busy days all the time. After my first film, I thought my second film would come out soon. But it didn’t. It took over me every day. The blank page, the inability to put a period on it and say ‘end.’ That’s something I really struggled with for those 10 years. I’m sure most creative people often have to deal with that feeling of failure when they don’t achieve something early enough or they don’t achieve it at all.”
Currently streaming on Netflix, Laapataaa Ladies continues to resonate with audiences, finding appreciation and audience in the digital space despite its initial box office failures.