Dhobi Ghat (2011)
Written by Alok // January 21, 2011 // Media & Popular Culture // 9 Comments
(Introducing our third guest blogger for the week, Danish Sheikh; the other, co-reviewing half of the dynamic duo who review movies on reviewerswithoutborders. Hot off the keyboard, [and in a C20 record, a review of a movie less than 24 hours after its theatrical release] he reviews for us Kiran Rao’s directorial debut, “Dhobi Ghat: Mumbai Diaries“)
There’s a startlingly beautiful scene midway through “Dhobi Ghat” (I think its international release title of “Mumbai Diaries” is more appropriate though); a budding home documentary maker, unaware of her grace with the camera, finds a subject for it during the mundane moment of haggling for bangle prices. A painter watches this home video, gleaning inspiration from it to make a sketch of the outstretched hand with the bangles. And a few buildings away, a woman fuels her art and desire by capturing the painter on camera.
They’re all artists or aspirants here. There is, at one level of the movie, a narrative simply exploring the happenstance of 4 intersecting lives in the city of Mumbai – and that’s a nice enough subject making for a well observed drama at just that level. Where “Dhobi Ghat” occasionally touches moments of transcendence is when it lets itself become a meditation on the relationship of artists with their subjects and the city around them.
We start with a one night stand ending in bitterness, as Arun, the painter (a remarkably restrained Aamir Khan) all-but-physically kicks out the smitten Shai from his apartment. Shai goes on to build a friendship with her dhobi, Zohaib or Munna as he is better known (Prateik Babbar is quite a revelation here), even as Arun unearths a set of tapes in his apartment. Munna gets Shai to make a portfolio of pictures to fuel his Bollywood aspirations, even as he unwittingly leads her back to Arun (but of course, they have the same dhobi, see). Arun’s tapes reveal the story of Yasmin, a charming young Muslim housewife, substituting the tape for letters to send to her brother back home.
There’s a sense of quiet desperation that seeps through the movie; the dhobi who is deeply in love with the “rich Amreeka return” woman, but cannot, and will not, communicate it to her; Shai, who is unhealthily obsessed with the dismissive Arun even as he fires her creative urges; and most movingly, Yasmin, through her video recordings. In the guise of these tapes is composed not just a love letter to Mumbai, but the gradual chronicle of a hopeful spirit breaking down into despair. As essayed by Kriti Malhotra, Yasmin is a wonderfully empathetic character, and the video passages of her merely narrating the onscreen happenings are amongst the most memorable sequences of the movie.
Mumbai itself punctuates these stories; following every set of new conversations/developments, “Dhobi Ghat” takes a breather to soak in the city, sometimes glistening in afternoon rain, sometimes bathed in neon light, aided by the restrained lull of a great background score courtesy Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla. Few descriptions of Mumbai abound without the usage of the words “hurried”, “bustling” or “crowded” – so it’s strange that a movie that completely defies any of those adjectives – meditative is the word that comes to mind – should be able to capture it so perfectly.
9 Comments on "Dhobi Ghat (2011)"
Danish, lovely review. I thought too that the sequences with Yasmin were just beautiful. And the actress was simply outstanding- vey believable, excitable yet with this pervading sense of sadness which you knew would come to the fore sometime. I was left hoping though it wouldn’t happen. But it did, and that captured the movie beautifully- lulling you into the lives of its characters seamlessly and then letting you go with a deep impression left on you. Much like Bombay the city itself.
thanks Arghya !
Yeah, I remember hoping against hope that she’d get away with a semblance of a happy conclusion, but from the scene where she traces words on the beach so the sea can capture her secrets (perfect, perfect sequence) I knew all hope was lost. sigh.
Hey Danish,
Great review. I agree that Yasmin was awesome and so real. I also thought that Zohaib or Munna gave a wonderful performance.
My word for the movie would be “soulful,” with the best scene being the look on Munna’s face after he gives the chit with Arun’s new address to Shai.
But Danish, Yasmin DID get a happy ending, albeit posthumously.
Remember: “Art might be immortal– we are anything but.” (sound familiar?)
Very good, Lekha, use MY words against me.
I just feel that she might have been appreciably happier with a functioning marriage, than being the latest artwork of a moody, mildly obnoxious painter. oh well
Danish, absolutely fine, balanced and well written review! We get to see few of those these days, and you capture the themes beautifully, this was totally enjoyable.
thanks suhas !
Wow danish, this review is a study in how movie reviews should be written!
well thanks kabir