Director: Kiran Rao
Producer: Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao
Main Cast: Aamir Khan, Prateik Babbar, Monica Dogra, Kriti Malhotra
Dhobi Ghat is a compelling picture of urban angst that has become the hallmark of big city life. The experiences of the four diverse characters may be varied, but they all have a similar theme. It's a somewhat dysfunctional foursome, desperately seeking an anchor in the shifting sands of a maddening city.
Arun openly confesses he is a loner and doesn't try to hide his discomfort on finding Shai trying to get comfortable in his pad, the morning after. Shai spends her sabbatical trying to connect with Munna, her washerman, despite their different backgrounds, when all she'll like to do was finish the unfinished business that lingers between her and Arun. Munna, on his part, is tormented by his passion for the uptown woman he can never hope to hook up with. But it is the existential trauma of the newly married Yasmin which strikes you the most, as the woman pours out her loneliness in video letters to her brother Imran....Letters that become the leitmotif of a crumbling city's soul.
Kiran Rao makes a sensitive debut with Dhobi Ghat, a film that is heavily imbued with mood and soul. She uses her characters smartly to dissect the much talked about spirit of Mumbai without getting maudlin. In fact, the high point of the film is its understated elegance as the lead players slip in and out of the frame, chasing dreams and aspirations. If Aamir Khan enunciates the art of understatement through his delineation of Arun, the women ( Monica Dogra and Kriti Malhotra) skillfully juxtapose strength and vulnerability.
Prateik's Munna is endearing, despite being a bit too chic for the average neighbourhood dhobi. But eventually, it is the fifth character that overwhelms you with its colours and mercurial mood swings. And that's Maximum City, Mumbai. Tushar Kanti Ray's camera captures Mumbai in all its original hues: black, grey, sunlit, shadowy, chaotic, desolate and surging ahead.
A lyrical ode to the modern malady metro-eccentricity Dhobi Ghat is intelligent and artistic cinema.
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