Lajja Dvd

Lajja (transl. Shame) is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language drama film produced and directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. Based on the plight of women and feminism in India, the film satirizes the honor with which women are placed in society and the restrictions on them. The fact that the four women’s names (Maithili, Janki, Ramdulaari, and Vaidehi) are all versions of Sita, the ideal Hindu woman’s name, is a message in itself.

Plot

Vaidehi is married to the wealthy Raghu. On the outside, she lives a sophisticated life, but behind closed doors, her husband is abusive and has extramarital affairs. When Vaidehi takes a stand for herself, she is banished from the household. She returns to her parents’ house, but they too reject her since their daughter running away from her husband taints their family’s reputation. Vaidehi soon finds out that she is pregnant.

Raghu gets into a car accident, leaving him impotent. When he discovers that Vaidehi is pregnant, he calls her, faking remorse, and asks for her to return. Vaidehi agrees, thinking Raghu has mended his ways. In reality, Raghu and his father are plotting for the child to become their heir, and if Vaidehi intervenes, she will be killed. A friend informs Vaidehi of Raghu’s true intentions and she escapes from his henchmen. She is helped by Raju, a petty but kindhearted thief. He hears Vaidehi’s story and gives her money from a recent heist to help. To hide from Raghu and his henchmen, Vaidehi and Raju gatecrash a wedding procession.

At the wedding, Vaidehi meets Maithili, the bride-to-be, who is from a middle-class family and marrying a man hailing from a rich background. The two women witness the groom’s father harassing Maithili’s father with demands for an opulent wedding which he cannot afford and forcing him to pay dowry, with his reputation in society being ruined if he fails. Vaidehi tries to convince Raju to give Maithili’s father his money from the heist. He initially refuses and is soon forced to escape from the wedding because somebody has recognized him as a gatecrasher. However, changing his mind, he soon returns to give his heist money to Vaidehi. The groom’s friend attempts to rape Maithili but is stopped. As the wedding ceremony progresses, one of the guests recognizes the heist money which Raju had stolen from him. Moreover, the groom’s friend tells the groom’s family that he spotted a man (Raju) in Maithili’s room. Maithili is accused of having sexual relations with Raju in return for money, which leads Raju to publicly acknowledge his theft. Having tolerated enough, Maithili insults the groom’s family, and they flee from the wedding.

Meanwhile, Raghu finds Vaidehi and forces her into going home with him. On the way, they encounter a protest mob. Raghu gets out of the car to investigate, giving Vaidehi the chance to escape. She arrives in the small town of Haripur, where she meets Janki, a theatre actress in love with her colleague. Janki is pregnant, but not married, and does not care for society’s norms. The theatre director, Puroshottam, an older man, lusts after Janki, but keeps his wife, Lata, confined to their house. Puroshottam badmouths Janki to her lover, creating a rift between them. Janki’s lover asks her to abort the child, as he suspects that he might not be the real father, indirectly accusing Janki of having sexual relations with Purshottam. Janki is outraged and intentionally botches a scene during a performance of the Ramayan. The angered audience assaults Janki, causing her to suffer a miscarriage. Vaidehi confronts Puroshottam, who threatens to call her husband. However, Lata intervenes and puts her on a train at the train station.

Vaidehi’s train is robbed by bandits but the passengers are saved by Bhulwa, a local dacoit. Vaidehi faints at the sight of blood, and Bhulwa takes her to the local midwife, Ramdulaari. Ramdulaari bravely opposes the village leaders Virendra and Gajendra who exploit innocent women, young and old. When Ramdulaari’s educated son Prakash, who is trying to educate the villagers about what Virendra and Gajendra are doing, falls in love with Gajendra’s daughter Sushma, tensions escalate. Gajendra locks Ramdulaari in her house and sets out to find Prakash. When Prakash runs away with Sushma, Virendra, and Gajendra, along with their goons, rape Ramdulaari and burn her alive. In a fit of rage, Bhulwa and his army kill Virendra and his goons. Vaidehi escapes with Sushma and Prakash.

Gajendra is attempting to enter politics, so when he is applauded by the local authorities, Vaidehi intervenes and exposes Gajendra as a rapist and fraud. She delivers a heart-wrenching speech how women are only treated as burdens to be married off by their families or ways to get dowry and male heirs from their in-laws. This drives all the women in the audience to assault Gajendra, who is later killed by Bhulwa. The speech changes Raghu’s attitude towards Vaidehi and he becomes a better person. The two return to New York City as a proper married couple. Vaidehi gives birth to a daughter, who is named Ramdulaari. She reunites Raju, who is now a taxi driver and married to Maithili. Vaidehi invites him to a charity dance show with Janki in the main role, wherein all the money from her shows goes to fund women’s organizations in India.

Cast

Rekha as Ramdulaari
Madhuri Dixit as Janki
Anil Kapoor as Raju
Manisha Koirala as Vaidehi
Ajay Devgn as Bhulwa
Mahima Chaudhry as Maithili
Jackie Shroff as Raghuveer, aka Raghu
Danny Denzongpa as Gajendra
Gulshan Grover as Virender
Nasirr Khan as Gullu
Aarti Chhabria as Sushma, Gajendra’s daughter
Sharman Joshi as Prakash, Ramdulaari’s son
Beena Banerjee as Vaidehi’s mother
Suresh Oberoi as Raghuveer’s father
Johnny Lever as Fakhruddin, Raghuveer’s stooge
Razak Khan as Francis, Raghuveer’s stooge
Anjan Srivastav as Nekchand, Maithili’s father
Farida Jalal as Saroj, Maithili’s mother
Tinu Anand as Purshottam
Jaya Bhattacharya as Lata
Asrani as Gulab Chand
Dina Pathak as Maithili’s Bua
Govind Namdeo as Hazarilal
Jagdeep as Bansidhar Chakkiwala (cameo)
Ritu Shivpuri as Anita
Rohini Hattangadi as Mrs. Hazarilal
Viju Khote as Mama,Brother In law of Hazarilal
Ghanashyam Nayak as Tiku , Prompter at Puroshottam Drama Company
Suhas Bhalekar as member of Puroshottam Drama Company
Samir Soni as Manish
Subrat Dutta
Sonali Bendre as Special Appearance in song “Mujhe Saajan Ke Ghar Jaana Hai”
Urmila Matondkar as Special Appearance in song “Aahiye Aajaiye”