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source:indiatimes

Apparently Yash Raj’s forthcoming film and Pradeep Sarkar’s second film post Parineeta, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag seems to be loosely based on the National Award winning Marathi film Doghi.

Though Sarkar’s film has romance element added to it the basic crux of the film is similar to that of Doghi .

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag is a telling tale of two sisters Badki (Rani Mukerjee) and Chutki (Konkona) who live a fun-filled life in Banaras, until they face financial crisis. Mother Sabitri (Jaya Bachchan) works hard to make ends meet but her husband’s illness breaks her spirit. Badki decides to go to Mumbai and earn a living for her family. In desperate attempt to serve her family’s needs, her circumstances lead her to prostitution. Sabriti is aware about Badki’s plight but she is helpless. Younger sister Chutki is unaware of her sister’s dilemma as the elder sister and the family doesn’t want the younger one to know about the harsh reality of their condition. Things are fine until Chutki comes to Mumbai and Badki will have to hide her ‘changed identity’ from her sister. She battles hard to not let any dark shadows fall on her sister or family. Laaga Chunari Mein Daag is a journey of a woman where every step she takes in her journey marks her struggle for survival…

Pradeep Sarkar’s this story reminds us of writer-director duo Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar’s National award winning Marathi film Doghi (1995), which was screened at renowned international festivals and had bagged plenty of prestigious awards.

Like Rekha Nigam’s screenplay for Laaga , the Marathi masterpiece Doghi also revolved around two happy-go-lucky sisters Gauri (Renuka Daftardar) and Krishna (Sonali Kulkarni) who drift apart, all thanks to the tragic circumstances life imposes on them. In order to take care of the family and a bed-ridden paralytic father, elder sister Gauri decides to leave for Mumbai, where she ends up as a sex worker. Gauri’s mother is against it but has no other source of income and has to see her daughter sacrifice her happiness and life for the well being of her family. Krishna is kept under dark about her sister’s terrible sacrifice but things take a drastic turn when Gauri comes back to her village for Krishna’s wedding and Krishna cannot help but notice the difference in her elder sister.

So what’s common between the two films?
The sisters’ bonding, their naughty demeanour, their confrontation when the younger sister comes to know about the elder’s dual life, their mother’s dilemma of having to see her elder daughter go through the pain …the two films are pretty much similar except for the romantic track that Pradeep Sarklar adds to his film. Abhishek Bachchan as Badki’s love interest and Kunal Kapoor as Chutki’s lover is something that was not included in Doghi . Also Laaga is set in Beneras while Doghi was set in a rural village of Maharashtra. Doghi made you grab that tissue in its chilling climax when the younger sister fights for her elder sister’s rights, who sells herself to serve the family! Doghi fetched actor Sonali Kulkarni, who played the role of Krishna (younger sister in the film) ‘V Shantaram award’, ‘National award’, ‘State award’ and even ‘Filmfare award’! It was the film which gave the actor her due.

Sonali says, “ Doghi still remains my favorite film. The relationship that is shown between the family members in the film is heart-rending. In fact I get goose bumps every time I even talk about the film. Hats off to the director-writer duo Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar who gave such authenticity to the film… not just our appearances but also the kind of mindset we’d have as rural dwellers was taken care of. I played the role of Krishna who has guts to stand for her elder sister. The way the film showed the bond the two sisters shared is beyond compare. For instance, in the film there is this make-a-wish tree and Krishna instead of asking for any material comforts, asks for her elder sister to come back. No body has offered me such a fantastic role till date. I played a woman who is going through turmoil as she is full of guilt, anger and sorrow as it is she who has been accepting her sister’s money without knowing the plight she went through for it. She wants to get her sister out of the mess and is willing to go to any extent for that.”

So how does it feel to see a Bollywood film being made on the lines of Doghi ? “ Doghi is a classic film. It’s too early to comment on this, since I haven’t seen Pradeep Sarkar’s film but if at all even if it’s loosely inspired by Doghi , it’s a great compliment for the makers of Doghi , Sumitra and Sunil. Also in that case, the original writer should be given his due credit. Be it this film or any other work of art, the original creator deserves to be mentioned. Also I don’t believe just because Doghi was a regional film it was smaller than any Bollywood film. It’s just that since Bollywood has a worldwide reach, the films have better exposure.”

To end our anxiousness and know if Doghi has actually had any influence on Pradeep Sarkar and his film, we tried to get in touch with the Parineeta director and Yash Chopra but they were not reachable