Laaga Chunari Mein Daag

Cast : Jaya Bachchan, Rani Mukherjee, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kunal Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan, Anupam Kher
Producer : Aditya Chopra, Pradeep Sarkar
Director : Pradeep Sarkar
Music Director : Shantanu Moitra
Release Date : 12 October 2007

After the classical romance Parineeta, Pradeep Sarkar returns to the marquee with the socially relevant Laaga Chunari Mein Daag - Journey of a Woman, which releases Friday.

Starring Rani Mukerji, Abhishek Bachchan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kunal Kapoor, Jaya Bachchan and Anupam Kher, the film is about a woman who willingly chooses prostitution as a profession to support her family.

Rani plays the central character of Badki who lives with her parents (Anupam Kher and Jaya Bachchan) and younger sister Chutki (Konkona Sen Sharma) in Varanasi. On the surface, life is fun. The sisters enjoy playing pranks, sneaking off to see a forbidden mujra, and soaking up life on the banks of the Ganges.

But a financial crisis is brewing and Badki is fully aware of it. It gets worse when Badki's father falls ill. The family is in dire straits and Badki decides to go to Mumbai to seek a living to support her mother and sister.

Alone in Mumbai, she battles with dark forces, keeping her focus on her purpose to support her family and continue Chutki's education. She deliberately morphs into someone else, leading a secret life full of murky compromises.

As luck would have it, Chutki too comes to Mumbai to work. After her arrival, Badki's life turns into a minefield because she has to hide her secrets from her younger sister.

Chutki finds success at work and also meets Vivaan (Kunal Kapoor). They eventually fall in love.

While supporting her family and battling with blackmail, Badki gets attracted to Rohan (Abhishek Bachchan) but she lets him go, as she believes he is not meant for her.

After a sequence of events, Badki's dual life is revealed, and the two sisters find themselves face to face in a confrontation neither had expected. When love beckons Badki again, the whole family is thrown in a tumultuous storm.

Everything threatens to explode in their faces, destroying all of them.

Rani is pinning her hopes on the film because her last three films - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Baabul and Ta Ra Rum Pum - bombed at the box office.

The subject is relevant as thousands of young girls are either forced into prostitution or willingly they get into it to earn their livelihood. Films like Chandni Bar, Chameli and Julie, which probed prostitution, were received well. Trade pundits predict a good response to Sarkar's film as well.