Catharsis For Lost Souls

If one takes a moment of "life pertinent matters" ( sarcasm intended ), such as one's career, job appraisal, love life, possible marriage, plans for the weekend etc. the study of the anonymous faces in city are enough to build the whole gamut of human emotions. There are times you can't help but build story of each soul and realize either the enormity of trivial nature of your existence or priorities, most often it is the latter. It is city of paradoxes. While it is financial capital of the nation, it also has some of the largest slum dwellers in the world. All classes interact with each other seamlessly. City is truly in your face and its naked in its absolutely abysmal living conditions for a large majority or the show of wealth from the elitists or "rising middle class". While one can hope for creating this romantic illusion with the city i.e being city of dreams or ambitions etc. ( which I don't buy ) which attracts millions to its shores every years , but there is certainly something that distinguishes it from others.

For a majority of Indian cinema audiences, films as a medium are essentially their only resort for entertainment which inherently implies escapism. With both Husband and Wife usually working for 5 days a week carrying almost inhuman burden of work pressures, there is little scope for the tired souls except a visit to local mall and catch any film that can distract them of their "boring" lives for 2-3 hours. Their expectations are not any different from a child being taken to local circus. Expect the child to get distracted and bored during the show if instead of the pyrotechnics from the trapeze players or any other stunt driven moves, he is getting an anecdote from the Clown. With cinema in India, it is no different. The audiences want to be transported into a different space preferably a more comfortable one. They want to be told how to feel and they invariably want to feel good at the end of the film. In this climate of very limited expectations from the medium, comes a movie like "Dhobi Ghaat" which tells you a story without a plot ( 3 part structure ), without a necessarily "happy ending" in traditional sense, without the usual pomp and reverence that only the elite in this country enjoy, but just snippets from intersecting lives of 4 people

Without giving anything away from the film, we meet Arun ( Aamir Khan ) an ambiguous, reticent, awkward, cynical and probably bored painter who has lost motivation for his work. This struggle with his work also impacts his relationships especially with certain Shai ( Monica Dogra ), an NRI, who returns to India on a "sabbatical" to discover the city. After one intense encounter, both seem to be reconciling and gauging their emotions from different view points. Then there is Munna ( Pratik Babbar ) who works at Dhobi Ghaat during day, works out ( exercises ) at night (among other things ) and nurtures ambitions in the film industry. He is also connected to the above two characters. Yasmin ( Kriti Malhotra ) through whom Arun and we as audience rediscover the city in all its beauty, brutality and innocence.

Reasons to watch the film : - 1) The cinematography, especially some of hand held shots, the still shots of the Mumbaikars at work. Director Kiran Rao shows great clarity, conviction and control with every frame. One is reminded of the great works of Wong Kar Wai. 2) The movie is shot on actual locations. Now, for most this might seem like a trivial comment, but it is an incredibly arduous task to shoot in the crowded locations especially with star like Aamir Khan whose presence could cause a stampeded at most places in India. It is very important to capture the places in all its chaos to capture the vibrancy of the city cutting through different classes of people that reside in the city. 3) Absolutely haunting score by Gustavo Santaolalla ( of Brokeback Mountain fame ). Like any great Soundtrack, it never overwhelms the scene but underlines the essence and lingers in our mind long after you left the theater. 4) Performances by the entire cast especially a Kriti Malhotra. She is not an actor by profession which works for the film with "raw" and "innocent" nature of her performance.

I can't think of many better debuts in recent times than this one by Kiran Rao. There were so many times I was pinching myself "Am I really watching an Indian film!!". She shows great courage and maturity with her first film. There is lot to admire in her especially the subtlety and mis- en-scenes which makes the characters even more endearing. Not much is said "literally", but much of it is implied. This is her love letter to City of Mumbai. It is also not an overtly "flattering" one, but honest embracing the city in all its fallacies. She also seems to have a stamp on every frame in the film, which reminds me a bit of one of my other favourites Sofia Coppola. Both dealt with themes of loneliness and longing in such honest and tender way. The movie isn't without flaws. The love angle between Prateik and Monica is somewhat dragged. Aamir Khan is competent, but his star power almost works against the absolute polar opposite nature of character.

I am not sure what it will do for Indian cinema. I am not even sure if another movie like this will ever get made. I do not share the romantic notions of the city as the director, atleast as of now. But one can't help but admire the courage the debutant director in trusting the audience's intelligence and patience. Considering the response of the audience in the theater, can't say her trust was justified with such uber insightful comments such as "Itna Slow kyon hai", "Kuch story nahin hai", "Aamir Khan ke naam pe chewtiya banaya" and "Yamla Pagla Deewana jaate the yaar". Knowing how the medium has been whored in this country all these comments are perfectly understandable.