Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries)

I dunno why people here have been giving this such bad reviews. I understand this movie is the typical bollywood movie, but that does NOT make it a bad movie. I know many Aamir Khan fans who went to see the film were probably disappointed as it is not like his usual films...

I have always enjoyed his work and I think this movie has a LOT more to offer than Aamir Khan. The others actors were INCREDIBLE, and it's amazing that they are just ordinary people. Maybe that's why there were, because in a lot of ways, Mumbai Diaries is about every day life.

Kriti (the girl who plays Yasmin) was amazing. I laughed when she laughed and cried when she didn't. I LOVE the way her part was incorporated in the movie and that credit goes to Kiran Rao. Which brings me to my next point. I think Kiran did a wonderful job with this film, and I actually don't see how people could criticize her just because her husband is Aamir.

The story lines were written beautifully. Each story had depth and meaning. Every one meant something to one another, but there was no place for them in the each others lives.

Munna's character is so endearing and sweet, he makes you fall in love with him from the first scene. And Shai's performance leaves you wanting more. She plays the international girl perfectly, and being a bit of an 'outsider' myself, I know exactly how it is going back to your roots. Shai had it down pat. Yasmin, again, I think for me..was the best character. I loved her from the very beginning. She was innocent and happy and almost child-like, you couldn't help but love her...Aamir was like always, brilliant. The guy's talented as the world knows.

This film is not you average Indian movie, but it is a beautiful piece of work and truly captures your attention. Not once was I bored or wondered when the movie would end. Yes it had it had some flaws, main one being the cursing...for some reason that made me laugh. I felt it didn't really go with the situation, and was a bit forced. Other than that, kudos to the whole team for creating this movie.

Numbers and 'hit'/'flop' status does NOT make a movie a 'good' movie...every one is different and has their own opinions. For me, this was a great movie. :) Def one of my favourites.

It's not perfect, but it's definitely worth viewing. One does not find such attempts in Bollywood very often. All the characters are fantastic, and so is Mumbai. :)

The plot could have been more tightly strung up, but what the heck.. for a debutant, it's amazing. It comes to it's best when no dialogues are being delivered, just the rolling camera. The movie has no 'message', no climax, it just flows with lives of the characters. Moral of the story : Life comes in full circles, like clothes at a dhobi ghat. The background score is quite experimental as well.

Do not go expecting the usual Bollywood routine. If that what you want, I'm sure there are plenty of options around.

I'm not myself such a big fan of this kind of film, I don't plan on buying the Dhobi Ghat DVD, but I nevertheless give a 9/10 because the movie deserves it. There are writing and technical achievements that you can't take away from the film, even if it didn't appeal to you.

The first great achievement of this film is its screenplay, written by Kiran Rao. The danger for a mosaic movie is to have its story drift endlessly or split in too many branches. It's not the case in Dhobi Ghat, and on the contrary it keeps a strong core around which the various characters and stories revolve. What is this core? The city of Mumbai of course, the 5th character of the movie, as the director claims... but not only.

The English title of the movie, Mumbai Diaries, could also have been "Mumbai Visions". Yasmin makes video recordings of Mumbai as she discovers the city. Shai wants to photograph the real Mumbai. Munna creates another self through Shai's camera, to reach the filmi scene of Mumbai. Arun gets his inspiration by watching the city, or watching the city as seen by Yasmin. One scene I really appreciated is Shai unnoticed taking pictures of Arun watching Yasmin's recordings. So, instead of just having the characters wander in Mumbai, the core of the movie is the sights the city impresses on its inhabitants and our protagonists.

The next achievement of Dhobi Ghat is its direction: refined, subtle, it delivers sights of Mumbai in a very intimate way. It's completely appropriate for the screenplay (well, logical, since both story and shooting are from Kiran Rao), and probably helps us rapidly feel close to the characters. I particularly liked all the scenes recorded by Yasmin, featuring small everyday events, but yet really meaningful and emotional. But it's also a strong technical direction, as is enough to prove it that scene where Munna runs in the middle of Mumbai chaotic traffic. A real moment of cinema.

To finish, the third good point of the film is its cast. Aamir Khan is flawless, as usual, though in the rather unusual role for him of a loner (he's done that kind of roles before, but not very often). Kriti Malhotra is a particularly moving and very beautiful Yasmin, Prateik Babbar excels in the role of the shy Munna, and Monica Dogra plays very naturally the modern American-Indian Shai.

The only thing I liked less in Dhobi Ghat is its end, a bit too open to my taste. But that's very subjective and on the whole the film deserves praise for its coherence, its sensibility and its artistic direction. I would call it a must-see.

P.S: People who hated it must only be used to watching Masala stuff. Seriously, the movie can appeal to a large audience, it's not AT ALL an obscure art movie that could appeal only to a very small fringe of audience...

Dhobi Ghaat-Mumbai Diaries:I didn't even know that Mumbai Diaries was a part of the title but thats what the film is truly about.Mumbai is not just a city/habitat but a character which is the common thread linking the 4 human characters.It's like a person molding all of them differently.A bored wife from small town finds Mumbai - a companion,the ocean - a confidante, Mumbai rains- the romance that she could never find in her husband.A girl from New York finds Mumbai to be an exploration of the landscape and of human beings,life in its by lanes and how it changes by day and by night,discoveries and realities of life ,of the wedge still existing between the rich and the poor so simply shown in the way that tea is served to an employer and to a Dhobi.Prateik Babbar perfects the lingo and nuances of a Dhobi/life in slums to the T.Pratik's character is so well defined from how he goes by the railway tracks doing his daily morning ablutions while the sky is still dark, the place where he lives, the bed soaked by the first sign of rains and for some privacy just a curtain made of patches of cloth and no door.Aamir's character becomes intertwined with a woman who is just an accidental and disconnected find and goes on to become a muse and then to someone whose loss is nerve-wracking.There are just too many beautiful moments only to be seen to be experienced in this movie, the first time Prateik/Munna gathers enough courage just to share the armrest in the theater with Monica Dongra/Shai and how happy and blissfully he is doing that, how he finds shame in being a rat killer,how he falls in love but restrains himself even while having the opportunity, how he even tries to make her feel jealous even while realizing the futility of doing so. These characters are what every Mumbaikar is all about, going about our daily lives/chores while still aspire to find love, build a connection with another person,achieve our dreams, find a little romance by the sea, culinary bliss in the Malpua of Mohammed Ali road and Bhel-puri of Juhu. It's all there in mumbai and in this beautiful film. The background score and the Mumbai noise lifts the film, the casting is apt and such a delight and the story lucid.I loved the end.For a first time director its certainly an achievement to transform her vision so beautifully on screen. Sheer Poetry in motion. Take a bow!

Let me start by saying that if you were expecting Transformers, this movie is not for you. If instead, you find yourself in a quiet room with the patience to watch something intelligent, then this would be your cup of masala chai :) Anything I say about this movie will not be enough to praise its quality. I have to go back and watch it a couple more times, before I have anything insightful to say. But I must say something, because of the way in which this movie has touched me.

I had grown jaded over the past few years, looking at the quality of movies being released in Bollywood. I would start a movie only to find myself bored by the same age-old clichés. So my expectations weren't very high when I started this one. But by the end of it I was sitting up straight, with my hands in a praying pose, watching with the utmost concentration. I guess I see a little bit of myself in Arun and Shai. I also sometimes think about the people that we the privileged don't see in our daily lives. The builders who build skyscrapers, yet have no place to call home. The dhobis who clean other people's clothes, yet hardly have any themselves. Kiran Rao does an amazing job of taking all these elements and representing them in the form of video, photography, art and music. There are coincidences and small clichés, but they aren't as blatantly idiotic as in other movies.

There is poetry in this movie about the privileged, the loved, the lost and the city that is Mumbai. One of my favorite movies of all time. I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for Kiran Rao and Aamir Khan productions.