Laadla (translation: The Beloved Son) is a Bollywood film released on 17 April 1994, starring Sridevi, Anil Kapoor and Raveena Tandon. The film was notable because Divya Bharti was to star as the lead role Sheetal, filming most of the film. However, due to her untimely death in 1993, Laadla was re-filmed with Sridevi in the lead role. Footage of Divya performing Sheetal is available on the internet. Laadla is the remake of Rajkumar's blockbuster Kannada movie called Anuraaga Aralithu. Later in 1992 it was remade in Tamil as Mannan starring Rajnikanth.
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Laadla (The Beloved Son) is the story of Raju (Anil Kapoor) who lives with his disabled mom (Farida Jalal). One day Raju on his way to a job interview saves the life of a rich textile mill owner (Anupam Kher) who offers him a job in his factory which is run by his ambitious daughter Sheetal (SriDevi). Sheetal's competitive attitude and open insults result in her making several enemies in her industry. Raju works as a mechanic in the mill and confronts Sheetal several times to get the workers proper treatment. Raju's fairness for workers result in him being elected as the union leader. Raju meets Kajol (Raveena Tandon), who also works in the textile mill, and they fall in love. Raju saves Sheetal's life during an attempt by a competing textile mill owner (Prem Chopra) to eliminate her. Sheetal wants to win over Raju and makes an offer to marry him. When Raju turns her down she forces his mom to agree to the marriage. Raju accepts his mom's wishes and decides to sacrifice his love for Kajol. Sheetal expects Raju to move in with her after their marriage and live in luxury, but Raju refuses and continues to work in the mill. Tension arises between Raju and Sheetal, when she fires Kajol out of jealousy. Also labor issues cause the workers to go on strike. The competing mill owner plans to take advantage of the situation and hires hoods to set the mill on fire. Raju in his attempt to stop the fire is mistakenly arrested. Raju's mom goes to Sheetal's house to clear matters but is insulted and taunted by Sheetal, and collapses, until Raju arrives to save his mother and slaps Sheetal for taking it out on his mother, and breaks his ties with her. A guilty Sheetal decides to kill herself until the rival mill owners kidnap and decide to kill her themselves, until Raju arrives to save her life. Afterwards, Sheetal decides to change and become a good wife to Raju.
The film's actresses Sridevi and Raveena Tandon were nominated for the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards respectively at the Filmfare Awards held in 1995.