First they married off young girls, now they are dunking little girls into a pot of milk — Colors seems to be taking their women seriously. Naa Aana Is Des Laado deals with female foeticide. Set in Veerpur, a fictional village in Rajasthan, the story talks about the rampant practice prevailing there of killing baby girls.

There is Ammaji, the chief of that kasba, whose word is final. The law-keepers are in her pocket and the entire village is her playground. She believes that women have no right to be born in her village and those who give birth to girls are worthless creatures which are only adding to the dharti ka bhoj. Unfortunately, her youngest daughter-in-law has to bear the brunt as she gives birth to a girl. While she with the help of her older sister- in-law-tries to save the child by sending her off with the mid-wife, Ammaji catches them red handed and orders the mid-wife to bury the baby. Just when she’s about to carry out Ammaji’s order, enters Sia, a city girl and an educated activist whose doctor-father has been posted in the village. She comes there with her father and her younger sister. They try to save the baby but to no avail. Investigations reveal that the child belongs to Ammaji’s family and thus begins a war between Sia and Ammaji. While Sia desperately tries to bring Ammaji to book, the latter along with her henchmen creates trouble for Sia and her father.

Sia has already won round one as she exposes Ammaji and her oppressive ways towards her girl-bearing daughter-in-law in front of the village. She has also won the confidence of a village woman who’s pregnant and wants neither to undergo a sex determination test nor kill her unborn baby if it’s a girl. The seeds of rebel have already been sown and Ammaji has now no choice but to save her village from the progressive Sia.

Laado exposes the goings-on in the interiors of our country where women are ill-treated and girls are killed rampantly in the hope of a son. It also highlights the fact that how women themselves are sometimes the biggest enemies of women. Last but not the least it also focuses the various malpractices that occur in villages and smaller towns in the name of the ‘law of the land’. While the premise is interesting, the effort seems slightly laboured.

Ammaji’s character is supposed to be this hard as nails woman but Meghna Malik who plays it gets it right in terms of the way she walks (she struts her stuff, a la Shabana Azmi of Godmother), talks, laughs and threatens, she still doesn’t quite cut the ice. We wish a slightly older actress would have brought a certain gravitas to the role. It’s not just about greying your hair, flaring your nostrils or showing off a masculine air, it’s something more which we find missing in Malik/Ammaji. On the other hand, we liked Natasha Sharma who plays Sia, she lends a quiet dignity to her character. Though the actress is raw in places, we know she will only get better with every episode. A word also about one of Ammaji’s daughter-in-laws who may not have borne a grandchild for her family but as an actress lends the right amount of vulnerability, shame, anger and helplessness she feels towards her own existence and the family she is married into, to her character. We also liked the characters of the two junior cops – inspired by the wicked ones played by Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri in Maqbool - who are Ammaji’s yes-men. None of Ammaji’s three sons have spine enough to stand up to her and as actors too they are reduced to being mere props in her darbar.

As for the setting, the costumes (we would have preferred Ammaji to wear a slightly used and worn out costume than her starched, sparkling white, without a crease dupatta), the language everything has been worked upon to make it as authentic as possible. All said and done, Laado is still a welcome break from the other prime time offerings even if the issue it deals with is ugly and bitter.
Verdict:
The show talks about a real issue. We hope the makers keep it simple and resist from over- dramatising it and laado could soon become everyone’s laadli.