Lajja

Lajja is a 2001 Bollywood film directed by Rakjumar Santoshi.

The plot is basically a Lifetime Movie of the Week, depicting several women and their struggles, as they meet The Protagonist, Vaidehi (Manisha Koirala), a woman who is escaping from her abusive and very powerful husband.

Tropes used in Lajja include:

• All Abusers Are Male
• All-Star Cast: Some of the biggest names in Bollywood are in this one, including Madhuri Dixit, Anil Kapoor, and Manisha Koirala.
• Angrish: Raghu
• Anvilicious
  • Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped
• Badass: Bulwa. All the way.
  • Also, Ramdulaari
• Bedlam House: Janki is taken to an asylum after some drama, and she miscarries her illegitimate child there.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Oh, yes...
• Big Applesauce: Vaidehi and Raghu live here
• Bollywood Nerd: Ramdulaari's son Prakash, who is trying to improve life in his village by bringing computers and knowledge.
• Butt Monkey: Fakhru
  • Iron Butt Monkey
• Character Filibuster: All of the main female characters get one.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Oh, yes...
• Defiled Forever: Janki is considered this for getting pregnant outside of wedlock, and even considered insane.
  • Also, Sushma is considered this, even though Prakash only kissed her. (Her family actually mourns her as though she's dead.)
  • Maithili, too, because she rejected a marriage to her wimpy college sweetheart (from old money), because of her fiance's father's greed. Offscreen, Raju marries her, so she won't have to be alone forever or have to kill herself to save her family's honor.
• Domestic Abuse
• Double Standard: Explored many times, particularly during the sequences about Janki and Ramdulaari.
• Ducks in A Row
• Fridge Horror: During Maithili's sequence, Raju comes across a prostitute who is arguing with several men (apparently customers trying to cheat her out of money), and she mentions that she is only doing this so her sister will have enough dowry money. Maithili is getting married, and her family is having trouble scraping together the dowry that her fiance's family wants.
• Give Geeks a Chance: Gajendra's daughter
• Good Samaritan: Both Raju and Bulwa
• Gratuitous English
• Happy Ending: Raghu starts treating Vaidehi properly, and she gives birth to a healthy baby girl in New York City whom she names Ramdulaari. Meanwhile, Raju is Happily Married to Maithili, and makes a living as a New York City cab driver rather than stealing. And Janki is no longer held in the Bedlam House, but performs in a theatre in N.Y.C, doing charity shows to raise money that support women's organizations back in India.
• Heel Face Turn: Eventually, Vaidehi's husband sees that he's been a real Jerkass, and mends his ways.
• Heel Realization: See above.
• Honor Before Reason: The root cause of all the women's troubles.
• Honor-Related Abuse: Ramdulaari is raped and murdered because her son is in love with the daughter of two very traditionalist village elders
  • And the whole thing with Janki...
• Item number
• Laser-Guided Karma
• Large Ham: Janki. Justified, as she works in theatre.
• Lifetime Movie of the Week
• Meaningful Name: The four main characters are named for different aspects of the goddess Sita, which is hailed as the "ideal" Indian woman.
• The Medic: Ramdulaari, a midwife
• My Girl Is Not a Slut
• Narm: Unintentional (especially given the serious nature of the film), but happens.
• Nice Guy: Raju (not to be confused with Vaidehi's husband Raghu)
• Overprotective Dad: Gajendra
• Parental Marriage Veto: Gajendra and his brother do not like Ramdulaari's son.
• Pinball Protagonist: The whole point of the story is Vaidehi observing how badly women are being treated.
• Rape as Drama
• Rape and Revenge: Bulwa avenges Ramdulaari. In fact, he takes issue with ill-treatment of women in general (whether rape is involved or not), because Gajendra tried to rape Bulwa's mother when she begged him for a small pot of water during a drought.
• Rebellious Spirit: Janki
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections: Both Gajendra and Raghu
  • In fact, Gajendra says so himself.
• Show Within a Show: Janki gives a What the Hell, Hero? to her boyfriend (who has accused her of cheating), during a theatrical performance (which, incidentally, is about the goddess Sita, who has been forced to undergo a Fidelity Test). The Moral Guardians and Media Watchdogs take this as blasphemy and write her off as a Hysterical Woman.
• Shrinking Violet: Lata
• Sleazy Politician: Gajendra. He is exposed and later killed by Bhulwa
• Soapbox Sadie: Both Janki and Ramdulaari are considered this, as is Vaidehi.
• The Unfair Sex:
  • With a few exceptions, such as Bhulwa and Raju, most of the male characters in this film are just terrible people.
  • And even Bhulwa, as nice as he may be, is still a thief. (Same with Raju)
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech
• Those Two Guys: Raghu's Yes-Man and his idiotic sidekick chasing after Vaidehi.
• Took a Level in Badass: Lata
  • Also Maithili
• Type Caste: The main reason Gajendra doesn't approve of Prakash.
• Whip Sword: Bulwa's weapon of choice. It contributes to his swashbuckling image.
• World of Cardboard Speech: Vaidehi's speech at the end, as well as Janki's.
  • Don't forget the speech given by Maithili
• Yes-Man
• You Can't Go Home Again: Vaidehi tries to go back home to her parents' house to escape her abusive husband, but since that would shame the family, they won't let her back.
• Your Cheating Heart: Vaidehi's husband, as well as Anita, the wife of his business associate, whom he is sleeping with.