Kiran Rao reflects on box office struggles of ‘Laapataa Ladies’

Kiran Rao has returned to the director's chair after nearly 14 years since her debut film, "Dhobi Ghat." Her recent directorial venture, "Laapataa Ladies," features Sparsh Shrivastava, Pratibha Ranta, Nitanshi Goel, and Ravi Kishan in prominent roles. Although the film received immense love from audiences on streaming platforms months after its theatrical release, it didn't perform well at the box office.

In a recent interview with Faye D’Souza, Kiran Rao candidly discussed the box office performance of her films, referring to "Laapataa Ladies" as a ‘failure.’ 

Reflecting on the performance of her films, Kiran Rao noted that both "Dhobi Ghat" and "Laapataa Ladies" struggled at the box office. She mentioned that while "Dhobi Ghat" managed to make some earnings during its release, "Laapataa Ladies" couldn't match its success. Rao remarked, "10–15 years later," her recent film failed to perform as well as her debut. 

She stated, "So, in some ways, I do feel that sense of failure. By box office metrics, we weren't a success."

Kiran further elaborated that her film didn’t earn hundreds of crores or "even ?30, 40, 50 crores." She acknowledged that by conventional standards, the film’s performance could be seen as a "failure," and she felt a sense of responsibility for its box office results.

Reflecting on her earlier work, Rao recalled the release of "Dhobi Ghat" and the lack of alternate mediums like OTT platforms at that time. She believed that the film didn’t reach a wide audience and considered it "different" and "unusual" for its theatrical release period. However, she mentioned that she never felt a profound sense of failure despite the challenges.

Discussing her journey as a creative individual, Kiran Rao shared that she has been working tirelessly for the past 10 years. She admitted that after her first film, she expected her second film to come soon, but that "soon" never materialized, leading to daily frustration. She confessed that the inability to conclude her projects with a "full stop and say 'the end'" was troubling. Kiran noted that many creative people likely experience a similar sense of failure when they don't achieve their goals early in their careers or at all.