Lajja... |
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Movie
Review: Lajja
Starring: Manisha Koirala,
Madhuri Dixit, Anil Kapoor, Mahima Chaudhary, Rekha, Ajay Devgan, Jackie
Shroff.
Guest Appearances: Urmila and Sonali Bendre
Director: Raj Kumar Santoshi
Producer: Raj Kumar Santoshi
Music: Anu Malik
Lyrics: Sameer |
Lajja is a story of woman subjugation.It is a story of four
women and how they have been subjected to heinous treatment by men in various stages of
life. The four main characters in the film have names of |
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Sita- Vaidehi (Manisha Koirala), Maithili (Mahima
Chaudhary), Janki (Madhuri Dixit) and Ramdulaari (Rekha).
The story begins in U.S.A where Vaidehi is shown to be the wife an influential and
affluent person Raghu (Jackie Shroff). Raghu happens to be a casanova and Vaidehi does not
take long to discover this when she spots him with Ritu Shivpuri. Despite her ultimate
best to make him see |
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sense and realize his duties for her, she is unable to
succeed. She returns to India to her parents where of course she is not very welcomed.
Meanwhile, Raghu meets with an accident and the outcome is his inability to bear a child
in future. Simultaneously, he discovers about Vaidehi being pregnant and tries |
his best to get her back by setting two companions of his.
She tries to escape and in the process of doing so, meets women who are also subjected to
injustice of various kinds and this forms the story of Lajja. The first woman she meets is
Maithili on her wedding where she sees Maithili is very happy getting married to the man
she loves. Here, she is saved by Raju (Anil Kapoor) from the cronies. Maithili on the day
of her marriage sees the turmoil and humiliation her parents have to face for being unable
to |
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arrange the dowry. She raises her voice against it and Vaidehi gives her company
in her sad plight as the groom leaves the marriage pyre.
Vaidehi then lands up in Raju's village and is under the care of Purushottam (Tinu Anand)
who is the head |
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of a drama company. Here she comes across Janki who happens
to be an actress and works under Purushottam. Janki believes in leading life in her own
unconventional way. She is pregnant bearing Manish's (Sameer Soni's) baby who is a member
of the same artiste troupe that Janki is. She gets devastated when she hears a refusal
from Manish to get married who suspects the baby is not his. This is when Janki raises her
voice against injustice and in the process of doing so, loses her baby. Vaidehi again
flees after Raghu tries to catch her. She gets into the train and encounters some |
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thieves and in the process of escaping lands up in a remote village.
Here she meets Ramdulaari a lady in her own strength. She happens to be a local doctor and
trains the |
women in the village to be independent and self sufficient.
The problem arises when Ramdulaari's son falls in love with the village Zamindar,
Gajendra's ( Danny Dengzonpa's) daughter. Needless to say, Gajendra and his brother
Mahendra are the controllers of the village and villains.Vaidehi is shocked when the
village Zamindars kill Ramdulaari for the mistake her son has committed. The fugitives are
helped this time by Bulwa (Ajay Devgan), a dacoit who is against the Zamindars. Vaidehi
finally exposes Gajendra in a felicitation ceremony and this is |
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when Raghu realises the strength of his wife. He decides to
mend his ways. Well, the ending is as |
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dramatic as it is suspenseful.
All the characters in this film have given brilliant performances but it is Manisha who
steals the show. Madhuri too has performed well. Rekha has given one of her best
performances. The others are mostly in special appearances. Dialogues are heart-touching
especially the ones by Ajay Devgan and Manisha at the end. Anil Kapoor as usual is quite
competent. Jackie Shroff proves his talent in the negative role. |
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Danny , Gulshan Grover, Johny Lever and Tinu Anand have done justice to their
roles. The script is indeed realistic and the choreography superb. Music by Anu Malik is
good especially the numbers, "Aa hi jaaiye" by Urmila, " Badi mushkil baba
badi mushkil" by Manisha and Madhuri and "Mujhe saajan ke ghar jaana hai"
by Sonali Bendre. Well, the movie has its downers as well like it gets a bit too heavy
without any comic relief at all and secondly it's length which exceeds three hours.
Overall, Lajja with it's brilliant script and star cast will touch audience heart without
fail. |
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