Dhobi Ghat (Hindi)

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6.5/10
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5.5/10
Release Date:
January 21, 2011

In the teeming metropolis of Mumbai, four people separated by class and language are drawn together in compelling relationships. Shai, an affluent investment banker on a sabbatical, strikes up an unusual friendship with Munna, a young and beautiful laundry boy with ambitions of being a Bollywood actor, and has a brief dalliance with Arun, a gifted painter. As they slip away from familiar moorings and drift closer together, the city finds its way into the crevices of their inner worlds

In the teeming metropolis of Mumbai, four people separated by class and language are drawn together in compelling... Show More

CinemaaOnline

Editor   Jan 22, 2011 15:42  

Like any other film focussing on a city (this one goes by the byline Mumbai Diaries), Dhobi Ghat is driven more by its characters than by a plot. The four characters here – the reticent painter Arun (Aamir Khan), the bohemian NRI investment banker on a sabbatical Shai (Monica Dogra), the intense & complex slum-dwelling migrant Munna (Prateik) & the innocent & romantic middle-class migrant Yasmin (Kriti Malhotra) – are four reference points to the humungous population of India’s biggest megapolis. Debutante director Kiran Rao makes a sincere attempt to go deeper than the cliched relationship saga and instead tries to sieve the city through Maslow’s postulates. A very interesting approach but ultimately its the debutant’s safety-first approach and the resulting reluctance towards exploring unchartered territory (the premise had ample scope for it) and an over-focus on the tried and tested that ends up stifling what could have been an utter joy to experience.