LAAPATAA LADIES: KEY LESSONS AND REMINDER ON SOCIO-CULTURAL, ECONOMIC AND GOVERNANCE ASPECTS OF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Kiran Rao's “Laapataa Ladies” is a story to tell beyond its screen-time! This article aims to objectively assess about the movie that offers profound message on deep-rooted socio-cultural and economic aspects of women empowerment as well as socio-cultural orthodoxy-driven governance issues in sub-urban India.Within this ambit,specifically,this article emphasizes on critically discussing the issues,challenges and evidence regarding societal pressure-driven conformity to early marriage, opportunities of education and low female labour force participation rate, incidence of dowry with increase in amount to get 'economically stronger' husband, cultural orthodoxy through practice of veiling, women's participation in household decision making, protection of agricultural labourers as well as productions without sacrificing their nutritional values, considerable trust deficit in societies, and governance issues relating to women empowerment.All of these possess a big reality check to Indian societies.