Kiran Rao returned to the director’s chair after almost 14 years since her debut film Dhobi Ghat. Her latest directorial venture Lapata Ladies stars Sparsh Shrivastava, Pratibha Ranta, Nitanshi Goyal and Ravi Kishan in the lead roles. Months after its release in theatres, the film was available to watch on streaming platforms and received immense love from the audience.
However, the film failed to do well at the box office. Recently, Kiran Rao called her directorial venture a ‘failure’ at the box office.
Kiran Rao said ‘Missing Ladies’ did not do well at the box-office
Speaking to Faye D’Souza, the filmmaker expressed his thoughts on the performance of both his films.
He said both his films (Dhobi Ghat and Missing Ladies) did not do very well at the box office. Rao said Dhobi Ghat had at least earned some money at the box office in its time; however, “after 10-15 years,” Missing Ladies did not do as well as his directorial debut. He said, “So, in some ways, I feel a failure. By box office standards, we were not successful.”
Kiran further told Faye that, “in the traditional sense,” her film did not make hundreds of crores or “even Rs 30, 40, 50 crores.” In her opinion, it would be more accurate to call it a “failure,” as she feels “responsible” for the film not doing well at the box office.
Kiran Rao expressed concern over the poor performance of Dhobi Ghat at the box office
Kiran recalled that she felt this a lot during the release of Dhobi Ghat, as there was no alternative medium like OTT. Hence, she expressed her belief that the film did not get a lot of audience and added that it was “different” for its time and “unusual” to be released in theatres at that time. However, she never felt a deep feeling of failure in anything.
Kiran Rao opens up about “failure” as a creative person
Talking about this, Kiran Rao said that she has been working continuously for the last 10 years. She further added that she has very busy days. The filmmaker said that after her first film, she thought her second film would come soon; however, that “soon” never came. This made her feel frustrated every day.
She said that “the inability to put a full stop and say ‘the end’ bothers her a lot. Kiran said that she has been struggling with this for the last 10 years. She further explained that most creative people also face a sense of failure when they are unable to achieve something or achieve everything early in their lives.
Missing Ladies is currently streaming on Netflix.
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