/> Starring Jaya Bachchan, Rani Mukhherjee, Konkona Sen-Sharma, Anupam Kher, Kunal Kapoor,Abhishek Bachchan
Directed by Pradeep Sarkar
Rating: ****

It's been ages since a film tugged so hard at your heart strings. Ages, since a film exuded the aroma of the middleclass in such glorious and vivacious colours.

Don't hold director Pradeep Sarkar's long experience as an ad- maker against him. Laga Chunri Mein Daag is a very stylishly told opulently- mounted tale of a fallen women's rise from matters of the flesh to the spirit.

Whether it's Varanasi's hectic day-time flamboyance or Mumbai's steamy though not entirely callous night-life (though a time-worn tale Laaga...avoids clichés and unnecessary sentimentality) cinematographer Sushir Rajpal lays out a sumptuous though never over-the-top feast for the eye of the spirit.

A couple of minutes into the narrative, and you're hooked to the sunshine inherent in the film's soul. Make no mistake about this wonderful work's intrinsic intentions. Though it tells the tale of a terrible moral downfall the mood is kept vibrant and real to the end.

As we watch the two sisters Badki (Rani Mukherjee) and Chukti (Konkona Sen-Sharma) dancing on the ghats of the Ganga in Varanasi a strange alchemy occurs between the audience and the film.

We get immediately drawn into the world of Pradeep Sarkar's decadent crumbling but dignified characters as they go from abject bankruptcy to unscheduled redemption.

The scenes are written (by Rekha Nigam) with an eye for inner detail that proudly matches the extraneous accuracy of the Varanasi haveli where our family struggles to hold its head above the rising waters.

You'll love the initial scenes where a film crew from Mumbai descends on the family from Varanasi with much- needed financial respite.You'll love the kitchen cackle among the matriarch Jaya Bachchan and her two chulbuli daughter.

And you'll watch the stunning tragedy of Badki's transformation from an innocent small-town girl to a high-class whore (all right, an escort by any other name.....) with a mixture of dismay and admiration.

There're some interesting and believable male characters, like the cheesy but suave executive (Harsh Chaya) who first suggests to the small-town girl that there's an easy way for a pretty Class- 10 drop-out to make money, or the ad agency owner (Kunal Kapoor) who drops his burger all over his beard and put his feet up on the table in front of the horrified savvy small-towner (Konkona).

Or Anupam Kher (subdued and embittered) as the family head who has given up his responsibilities. Watch him in that infuriating but comic scene where he proudly compares his elder daughter to his father for possessing the same volatile nature.

Or for that matter, Rani's city benefactor (Ninad Kamath) who gives her a place to stay and a confidence to survive in the concrete jungle.

Kamath is a fine actor. Why don't we see more of him ? Director Sarkar has cast every character with actors who look and feel right for the part.

If Rani and Konkona seem to be real-life sisters and if Jaya Bachchan does look like their mother then Abhishek Bachchan and Kunal Kapoor look just like the progressive contemporary guys who would rescue the two sisters from a life-time of non-washable daag on their chunri.

Laga Chunri has pace and grace. And it has Rani Mukherjee who has evolved into one of the most substantial actresses of the post Shabana/Smita generation. Her interpretation of the character's heartbreaking change from innocence to reluctant compromise is fleshed out in glorious colours.

Yes, Rani's wardrobe and hair help her to make the heart-in-the-mouth leap. But the character's inner fears and strengths come from the actress. She plays Badki/Natasha emotionally but never as a self-pitying whiner. Spunky and sunny, Rani is a case-study in restrained excellence.

The rest of the cast is also exceptional, specially Konkona as Rani's blissfully oblivious sister who finally stands and fights for the rights of a woman who has been burning her pyre to light their home-fire. In a film that belongs to Rani, Konkona creates ample space for herself.

And there is Jaya Bachchan in her finest role and performance since her retirement from active acting in 1973. The wrinkled brow, the perpetual tensions of running a home with nil finances, the horror and guilt of letting her daughter cross the path of morality.....it's a role any 50-plus actress would die for.

And Hema Malini in one single Mujra appearance leaves you stunned with her beauty.Wish Sarkar hadn't interpolated her smooth sleek graceful movements with dialogues and scenes.

The narrative converges on these three memorable women and weaves the other equally well-etched characters' around them. Yes, the goonda-gardi of the Tinu Anand-Sushant Singh pair never quite fits into this beautifully assimilated family tragedy. Also everything including Rani's huge moral dilemma comes right in the climactic wedding song, as though by magic.

But then you do want eldest 'son' of the family who happens to be born a woman, to get a fair deal in life. And if it comes out of the blue, then let's not crib about its improbability.

No 'flesh-in-the-pan' tale of the Fallen Woman, Laga Chunri ranks among the best films in recent years on the question of sexual morality as opposed to the issue of familial and ethical devaluation.

In terms of creating visuals that match the inner devils of these distended devis, Pradeep Sarkar ranks next only to Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

Watch how he cuts the sequence where Rani, just before going into her first sexual compromise, calls her harassed mother back home....or the delicate way the song Laga chunri mein daag floats from the waters of the Ganga to the smoky rooms of the rich and the power-hungry.

Laga Chunri Mein Daag is easily one of the most vivid portrayals of feminine angst and redemption in recent times.