Laapataa Ladies And Other Hindi Films Which Showed Lives Of Rural Women

On September 23, Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies was selected as India’s official submission to the Oscars 2025. The announcement was made by the jury of the Film Federation of India (FFI), the apex body that annually selects the Indian official entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. 

Produced by Aamir Khan, Laapataa Ladies follows Jaya (Pratibha Ranta) and Phool (Nitanshi Goel), two new brides who get swapped on the very first, post-wedding journey from their maika to the sasural. All because of the identical red ghungat that hides their face and identity, literally and metaphorically. 

According to Architectural Digest, the film was shot amidst the rustic beauty of Madhya Pradesh, specifically in the villages of Bamuliya and Dhamakheda in the Sehore District. The film's production designer Vikram Singh complemented the setting with earthy tones, traditional Chitravan folk art adorning the houses to the use of tree barks for thatched roofs. 

If you enjoyed the plot of Laapataa Ladies, here are other shows and films set in rural India to watch.

Hindi Films and Shows On Rural Women:

Ram Leela, 2013

Sanjay Leela Bhansali wrote and directed Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, a tragic romantic film. The film's plot is set in the fictional Gujarati village of Ranjhaar, which is known for its unrestricted manufacture and sale of weaponry and ammunition.

For the previous 500 years, two clans—Rajadi and Sanera—have been at enmity. The main protagonists are Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh. Padukone portrays Leela Sanera, who was not the traditional ghunghat-wearing, soft-spoken, rule-abiding Gujarati woman from the classics. She was a "raw" woman with a pistol who wasn't embarrassed by her sexual desires and wasn't scared to break the rules by falling in love with the enemy clan's member. Leela embodies what society regards as "too much."

Gulaab Gang, 2014

Gulaab Gang is an action drama film set in India about women's struggles. In the film, Madhuri Dixit plays Rajjo, a fierce leader, and Juhi Chawla plays a power-hungry politician in a negative character. Members of the Gulaab Gang are Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh activists and vigilantes. Domestic abuse, the dowry system, rape, electrical issues, and education are among the topics they address. Bundelkhand has a long history of strong female personalities.

Sati events are also commemorated in mythology and popular culture as examples of women who "dare" to take drastic measures "to save their honour." However, women's actual status in Bundelkhand villages is that they labour from dawn to dusk-cooking, labouring in fields, grazing cattle, collecting dung, collecting water, gathering firewood, doing manual labour at building projects their contribution is not recognised, as it is in most other rural sections of the country. The film attempted to portray the reality of women in Bundelkhand.

 Ishqiya, 2010

In Ishqiya, Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi, and Salman Shahid feature in the black comedy film. Ishqiya begins with Vidya Balan's Krishna Verma, who lives in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. Krishna is a widow who exudes mystery. She's also a mess of paradoxes, as she makes two men of varying ages dance to her tune: Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi.

The film defied stereotypes of the "helpless woman of Gorakhpur," in which women are represented as vulnerable, weak, poor, and socially isolated individuals who impassively bear the burden of survival. In a Hindi gangster film, seeing a woman who doesn't wait for saviours was surprising, especially as a well-woven and interesting character.

Suggested Reading: Iconic Small Town Love Stories In Bollywood Films That We Keep Rewatching

Masaan, 2015

Masaan is a drama film set in Varanasi that follows the lives of two young individuals. Vicky Kaushal, Shweta Tripathi, and Richa Chadda play the key characters in the film. Masaan tells the story of a lower-middle-class family led by Vidyadhar Pathak (Sanjay Mishra), a retired Sanskrit teacher, and his daughter Devi (Richa Chadda), a computer trainer, who returns home after being caught having a sexual affair with a friend in a shady hotel room.

Her friend then dies by suicide, and the police threaten to file an abetment charge against her in order to extort money from her father, who values honour over money. Being raised in a small and narrow-minded family and community and disgusted by people's reaction to her position, Devi leaves Varanasi and enrols in a course in Allahabad. She travels to the Ganges to submerge the present Piyush gave her in the hotel on that terrible day.

Anarkali of Aarah, 2017

Swara Bhaskar plays a small-town sensual folk dancer in the little town of Arrah, Bihar, in the film. Anaarkali (Bhaskar) makes a living by singing double meaning/erotic songs at public gatherings. During one of Anaarkali's theatrical performances, she encounters Dharmender Chauhan (Sanjay Mishra), the vice chancellor of a neighbouring institution, who tries to molest her.

This leads to a confrontation between the two, with Dharmender having the upper hand due to his position of power, but Anaarkali refuses to give in to the challenges she faces and instead chooses to fight back. Anaarkali is a strong woman who is a shocker as a pan-chewing, brave woman who will not bow under pressure.

Panchayat

Jitendra Kumar, Raghubir Yadav, Neena Gupta, Chandan Roy, and Faisal Malik star in Chandan Kumar's comedy-drama web series Panchayat. The story is set in the distant village of Phulera in Uttar Pradesh, where Manju Devi is portrayed as completing all of the household work like a responsible wife. The show's most powerful character, a District Magistrate, is a woman.

Despite this, she is only mentioned in third person throughout the narrative. On the other hand, Manjudevi, on the other hand, is uninterested in village politics and is content to rule her home, where she gets her way with her husband. The show progresses from her character's beginning, when she is relegated to signing off on paperwork as and when her husband requests, to someone who takes her job seriously and eventually takes command. On Amazon Prime Video, the series includes two popular seasons and 16 episodes.