Kiran Rao accepts blame for 'Laapataa Ladies' box office debacle
What's the story
Acclaimed director Kiran Rao recently expressed her feelings of responsibility for the box office underperformance of her latest film, Laapataa Ladies.
The film marked Rao's return to directing after a 14-year hiatus following her debut with Dhobi Ghat.
Despite its popularity on streaming platforms post-theatrical release, Laapataa Ladies, starring Sparsh Shrivastava, Pratibha Ranta, Nitanshi Goel, and Ravi Kishan failed to impress viewers at the box office.
Reflection
'By box office metrics, we weren't a success'
In a conversation with Faye D'Souza, Rao candidly discussed the performance of her films.
"In some ways, both these films (Dhobi Ghat and Laapataa Ladies) haven't done great at the box office," she admitted.
Despite Dhobi Ghat doing big business for its time, Laapataa Ladies did not perform significantly better even though it was released a decade later.
"So, in some ways, I do feel that sense of failure. By box office metrics, we weren't a success," Rao added.
Challenges
Rao discussed financial performance and personal struggles
Rao elaborated on the film's financial performance, stating, "In the conventional sense, we didn't do hundreds of crores, or even ₹30, ₹40, ₹50 crore."
She described this as a "failure."
Reflecting on her debut film Dhobi Ghat, Rao recalled feeling similar disappointment due to lack of alternate mediums like OTT during its release.
She also shared her personal struggles as a creative person, revealing her struggle with the delay in releasing her second film and facing an "empty page" daily.
Creativity
Rao believes creative people often face sense of failure
Rao believes that most creative people likely experience a sense of failure when they do not achieve something early in their lives or do not achieve it at all.
"I think failure in the sense that I felt that everyday failure. In 10 years, I've been working relentlessly. I've had really busy days continuously," she stated.
Despite its box office underperformance, Laapataa Ladies is currently available for streaming on Netflix.