DHOBI GHAT

Metropolitans are living things.
You would agree with me, if you've ever lived in one...

There's a certain pulse running inside everything. In Mumbai...theres always an innate hurry for everyone...

So many movies have tried to capture the busy life of a city and probably none of them have been able to keep it as subtle as Kiran Rao. This woman has taste, and you know it from the very first scene that she wants to stand out of the rest..and not over-exploit this 'Drama-queen of a city'- Mumbai.

Without trying to sound like a school-teacher, I would have to say that the Debutante's work has some pitfalls too.Where the simplicity of the story is endearing, it is on the borderline of being too simple and convenient. But thats where Rao scores over the rest...she brings us 4 characters from different walks of life (And by 'character' I do not mean 'The Bored wife' OR 'The alcoholic Husband'). SHAI (Monica Dogra) is an investment Banker from New York, on a sabbatical...to pursue her interest in Photography. Arun (Aamir Khan) is the reclusive painter, who does not like talking too much, but lights up without any reason at all. Munna (Prateik Babbar) is the Dhobi (Washerman) for the above-mentioned characters...he is smart, intelligent but very straight forward too. Finally theres my favourite performance, Yasmin (Kriti Malhotra) who shows up in some Video-diaries, which Arun get obsessed about. She has a certain calmness to her dialogues, and a haunting silence, where her eyes speak more than her words....Her Silence is like an anti-thesis to the ever-bustling city.

Rao does a good job by keeping it simple...
The Guerilla-filming of the city helps you see what the characters do...hence there are hardly any steady shots. She leaves out the songs for this one...instead hires GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA for an inspired main-theme. The use of Hindustani classical for some scenes is particularly interesting. Her writing is steady, at times indulgent. She writes some very interesting conversations between SHAI and MUNNA. The video Diaries (Yasmin) captures the in-built haste of all Mumbaikars, especially that first scene where Yasmin is seen capturing some neighbouring couples yelling at each other over the Lunch that is being packed for the Man, while the Child is as usual late for school having his breakfast slowly. These are moments of Deja Vu, because being a Mumbaikar..I've experienced it a zillion times myself. There are long silences in the movie and the one particularly beautiful is the one that we see Yasmin unmisndfully roaming around in the Elephanta caves,with her face showing signs of her marital disaster..and then she looks to the Camera, and breaks into a smile, The screen lights up!

Rao has tried to be very sincere in her depiction of the city, and one very touching scene is the one in Yasmin's Diaries where she captures her maid and her daughter.The scene boasts of some remarkable ingenuity to highlight the various stratas of the city.

Aamir Khan is somewhat hesitant with his character (who comes out under-developed too), Prateik Babbar is one hellofa newcomer. He impressed me in "Jaane tu..." and is very scalable with his 'out-of-the-blue-retorts', which are hilarious most of the times. Tushar Kanti Ray (DOP), along with Kiran Rao paint Mumbai with intimate-strokes and capture it lovingly. The Irony put forth by the end that even in a city with the demographics of Mumbai.....it is still a lonely life afterall.

This is a non-filmi Film. The melancholy in the climax is satisying afterall... Kiran Rao welcome on board with an assured debut.