It features Manisha Koirala in the lead role as Vaidehi, the mistreated woman, while an ensemble cast of Rekha, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Ajay Devgn, Jackie Shroff, Mahima Chaudhry, Johnny Lever, Suresh Oberoi, Sharman Joshi, Danny Dengzongpa, Razak Khan, Gulshan Grover and Aarti Chhabria appear in supporting roles.

[4] It received mixed reviews with criticism for story and screenplay, but the performances from the lead actors were highly praised.

Raju (Anil Kapoor), a petty but kind-hearted thief helps Vaidehi, hears her story and gives her money so that she can go to Haripur.

They gatecrash a wedding, Vaidehi meets the bride Maithili (Mahima Chaudhary), a middle-class girl marrying a rich groom.

Vaidehi arrives in a small town, Haripur and meets Janki, a theatre actress in love with her colleague, Manish.

The older theatre director Purushottam took in Janki when she was young and lusts after her while keeping his younger wife, Lata, confined to their house.

Manish asks her to abort the child as he suspects it isn't his, indirectly accusing Janki of sexual relations with Purushottam.

Bhulwa takes her to the local midwife Ramdulari who bravely opposes the village leaders Virendra and Gajendra as they exploit innocent women, young and old.

Gajendra attempts to enter politics, so when he is applauded by the local authorities, Vaidehi intervenes and exposes him as a rapist and a murderer.

She delivers a heart-wrenching speech about how women in India are only treated as burdens to be married off by their families or tools to get dowry and male heirs by their in-laws.

A. R. Rahman was initially signed in as the composer; but then he opted out; after he got extremely busy with his international assignment, Bombay Dreams.

According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 13,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's fifteenth highest-selling.

[7][8] Bollywood Hungama gave a rating of two and half out of five stars and said "On the whole, Lajja is a purposeful film within commercial parameters and the best part is that the Indian masses will be able to identify with the goings-on.

"[9] The Hindu stated "Unfortunately, this colourful film is a black-and-white disappointment, particularly in the second half when Santoshi loses track of his story and in a blatant bid to get the tax-free certificate brings in bits about computer education, female literacy and infanticide.".

"[11][12] Lajja failed commercially at the box office in India due to high budget and distribution price.