Kiran Rao’s last directorial film Laapataa Ladies was lauded by the audience but only when it streamed on Netflix after its theatrical run stopped. The film showcasing a village life with a unique story struck a chord with the audience but it failed to pull moviegoers to cinema halls. The film had a slow run at the box office making a total collection of Rs 20.58 crore. Laapaataa Ladies marks Kiran’s return to direction after 14 years since her debut as a director in Dhobi Ghat. The director addressed the box office collection of her last film produced under Aamir Khan Production as a failure.

In an interview with Faye D'Souza, Kiran Rao said, “In some ways, both these films (Dhobi Ghat and Laapataa Ladies) haven't done great at the box office. Dhobi Ghat, in fact, did some big business for its time. Ten-15 years later, Laapataa Ladies didn't do that much more than Dhobi Ghat. So, in some ways, I do feel that sense of failure. By box office metrics, we weren't a success. In the conventional sense, we didn't do hundreds of crores, or even 30, 40, 50 crore. Failure is the way to put it. I do feel responsible that the film didn't do that well at the box office. I felt it a lot during Dhobi Ghat because we didn't have any alternate mediums, we didn't have OTT. So it didn't get a lot of audience. I do feel that film was different for its time, and very unusual for a theatrical release back then. But other than that, not really. I haven't felt a deep sense of having failed at something.”

She further added, "I think failure in the sense that I felt that everyday failure. In 10 years, I've been working relentlessly. I've had really busy days continuously. After my first film, I thought my second film would come soon. But that soon just didn't come. It got me on a daily basis. The empty page, the inability to put that full stop and say ‘the end.' It was something I really struggled with in these 10 years. I'm sure most creative people have to face that sense of failure a lot when they don't achieve something soon enough or they don't achieve it at all.”