From real to reel: State’s populist Ladki Bahin scheme now on the silver screen

Mumbai's new scheme offers ₹1,500 monthly to underprivileged women, inspiring a film "Ladki Bahin" that highlights its impact amid budget cuts.

Mumbai: Ahead of the 2024 Assembly elections, the populist Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojna was unveiled with cinematic flourish. The promise of ₹1,500 monthly dole for underprivileged women with annual income below ₹2.5 lakh, was trumpeted as the reason behind the Mahayuti’s stunning triumph, after the poor show in the Lok Sabha elections.

From real to reel: State’s populist Ladki Bahin scheme now on the silver screen

Although 24.3 million women benefitted from the scheme, the applause gave way to an uneasy arithmetic post-elections. Soon after assuming office chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced a pruning of the list, as it was suspected many undeserving beneficiaries were gaining from the scheme; and the finance department missed no opportunity to point out its drain on the state’s coffers.

Despite cutting the beneficiary list to 17.7 million – which failed to bridge the budget deficit – a glossy celebratory film seeks to recast the political intent as a triumph.

Marathi film ‘Ladki Bahin’, with a tagline ‘The ₹1500 instalment is worth more than ₹1 lakh in our household’, by Satara-based distributor and film writer Ganesh Shinde was released on Friday, extolling the virtues of the scheme. The film is directed and produced by his wife Sheetal Shinde, alongside Balasaheb Patil, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party’s cultural cell.

This is the couple’s second foray into socio-political realism, after their last titled ‘Ek Maratha, lakh Maratha’ released in 2017, which was based on Maratha agitation for reservation in government jobs and education.

“’Ladki Bahin’ is an inspiring journey of a rural woman from the economically weaker section who transforms her life with courage and determination, supported by the scheme,” said Ganesh Shinde.

The idea for the film came upon him when he witnessed an altercation between a brother and sister over monetary transactions outside a hotel in Sangli. “After seeing them, I decided to use it as a peg for ‘Ladki Bahin’. It was important, as the scheme had become popular but there were rumours of it being shut down. So I decided to tell a story about how such schemes help women in rural areas,” said Shinde.

The film features Marathi film and TV actress Smita Tambe, who plays the protagonist Uma, a destitute who lives with her unemployed and alcoholic husband, son and daughter. On losing her job as the caretaker of a bungalow in Mahabaleshwar, she returns to her native village nearby, looking to her two brothers for help but is turned away.

She sees a speck of light hearing about the government’s scheme in 2024, and eventually pours the ₹1500 monthly handout into a pickle making business with other rural women. The initial struggle to set up the business eases when a social media star visits the village, samples the pickles and posts a reel about her on social media. Uma finally tastes success and dedicates the rakhis, which her brothers had rejected, to “her three naths” indicating to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde and then finance minister Ajit Pawar.

The film writer said Shinde and cultural affairs minister Ashish Shelar encouraged him to make the film, with the promise that the ministry would pay him between ₹10 lakh and ₹40 lakh, as per government policy, depending on the quality of the film.

“We spent around ₹1.25 crore to produce and distribute the film. We will get the subsidy later,” said Shinde, adding, “Although we made a film on a popular scheme, we did not get any assistance from the government. In fact, we ran into trouble with the censor board over using names of leaders, and logos of the scheme and Maharashtra government. They even wanted me to change the name of the film.”

“But Eknath Shinde saved the day,” he said. “The deputy chief minister watched the film and gave me a letter permitting the use of the name following which the censor board softened.”

The film is being shown on around 122 screens across the state, and Shinde hopes “the ruling parties promote it as they did ‘The Kerala Story’”.

“I met women and child development minister Aditi Tatkare and rural development minister Jaykumr Gore seeking their help to publicise the film in the rural parts,” said Shinde.

He expects a cameo by folk dancer and social media influencer Gautami Patil in the film might be an added draw of the regional youth demographic.