For the movie buffs: Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai diaries)

Hi Guys back again, this time I am being a film critic and the movie that has inspired me to do so is Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries). Thanks to a friend’s facebook status message that led me to watch this masterpiece and hence an inspiration to my next blog entry. This movie is not the kinds that I usually watch, I would say a bit slow for a high adrenaline intoxicated person like me ;). Despite this I loved it, some aspects that I loved about the movie are that this made me nostalgic about Mumbai, my birthplace, a place where I perhaps enjoyed some of the best times of my life (life isn’t over yet though, but there is definitely something magical about this place and only a  Mumbaikar knows it). One thing that strikes about this Aamir Khan & Kiran Rao production is that Aamir Khan is a highly creative person, one common aspect being painting and art that I can relate to his yet another hit “Taare Zameen Par”. This movie has got quite concise and finished plots, which aren’t simply hovering over before moving in to the next one. The movie also introduced two new actors (I wouldn’t say actresses as my English teacher in school always mentioned it’s quite a sexist word), Kriti Malhotra (don’t remember her name, but she is Imran’s sister...wow isn’t that amazing I remember Imran who wasn’t seen in the movie @ all and I forgot the person who was narrating it all) and Monica Dogra (Shai, the investment banker from America who is in Mumbai for her sabbatical...Sabbatical I perhaps reacted the same way when I 1^st heard this word in the UK as Aamir Khan did in this movie, as this concept of sabbatical isn’t that common in India where people slog off 365 days a year). Another person who in the movie worth mentioning is Prateik Bubber (Munna/ Zohaib), right from the 1^st time I saw this actor in Jaane tu Jaane na, I had a strong feeling there is something unusual about the way he acts, which is the simpleton roles he is given and he does apt justice to them. I just love his acting style, as one of my friend said he is in the lines of Abhay Deol, which looks about right to me given some of Abhay Deol’s movie I have seen.

Throughout this movie there is one thing that went in my mind is that, this movie would have perhaps given a stiff competition to Slumdog Millionaire, I still don’t understand why there was such brouhaha for this movie. The common aspect that I am hinting at is the portrayal of poverty stricken life in Mumbai, but it’s shown in better light in the Dhobi Ghat. The view of life in Mumbai is presented from a more holistic perspective and perhaps shows the routine life of a Mumbaikar (exemplified from the household maid shown in Mumbai and her daughter who aspires to be successful by studying in an English medium school and then the neighbourhood women working really hard and fast to knock off household chores and hence keep up with the fast paced Mumbai life).  Another aspect that is worth noticing is the sabbatical assignment given to Shai; the study of the small and medium scale traditional enterprises, and the three businesses chosen were quite apt them being Dhobis (washer man’s/ laundry), perfumeries and night rat killers. The Dhobis are a class of people mainly dealing with washing clothes and this community is present across India. Most small scale perfumeries in India are also traditional family owned businesses and are owned generally by Muslims in India, the perfume they sell is traditionally known as attar or ittar. My knowledge of night rat killer is limited, this is something localised to Mumbai I am not too sure about  the history or geography behind it in much detail but yes the Mumbai Municipality employs them to kill the rodents; the style of killing is quite traditional though (watch the movie for this ;)..not very pleasant). One more thing in the movie that I can relate to is the cultural contrast in the love triangle. Shai, a girl brought up in America who befriends Munna, and Munna takes her extrovertedness and down- to- earthness as a gesture of love. I am not sure if he started thinking too much or something, but I think we from the east need one lesson regarding not to fall for anyone who is too sweet, nice and helpful (I again say the proverb, Assumption is the mother of all fuck ups, sorry to use the F-word). But yeh as in all Bollywood movies he truly fell for her as is seen from the concluding part where he tries to first tell her that Arun (Aamir Khan) could be back with his wife and child but later runs in Mumbai traffic (typical Bollywood style) to give Shai Arun’s addressJ, where I thought he would actually express his feelings for her.

I think this is exhaustive enough, hope you all enjoy reading this and I hope for some this raises the curiosity to watch the movie as a mere facebook status did for me. The only thing that got my thinking caps on was the end bit where Aamir Khan (Arun) is petrified on realising that Yasmin (finally remembered Imran’s sister’s name) committed suicide in that house, was it cause it would mean an end to his project that he was working on based on those video tapes or was he actually scared of the fact that someone committed suicide in that house.  

P.S: Am I on the lines of becoming a movie buff ;)