REVIEW: Dhobi Ghat (2)

BIG CITY BLUES

Kiran Rao's directorial debut Dhobi Ghat is full of plot contrivances that fit very uneasily in an arty film of lofty aspirations. In any case, the premise of diverse lives colliding in a big city is itself too stale to make a ready impact. Add to that the weak characterisation and often cliche visual motifs and the overall effect is that of a dull and shallow ode to Mumbai with only the occasional spark.

It's the technical departments and the performances that actually hold the film together. Much credit to cinematographer Tushar Kanti Ray and sound designer Ayush Ahuja for capturing the city in all its hues -- the use of Super 16 and Digital photography lends an immediacy to the locations and several nuances of the metro's bustle and grind are authentically mirrored; particularly evocative is the voyeuristic act of looking into other people's box-grilled windows. Although Rao's decision to cram the film with every possible tourist highlight -- from the Elephanta Caves and Ganpati visarjan to Eid festivities on Mohammed Ali Road and of course, the Gateway of India  -- doesn't seem to have been taken in the interest of the narrative.

Rather, the director may actually have chosen her locations even before she decided to put these random lives into them.  

And that's the root cause of Dhobi Ghat's unevenness. The principal characters aren't connected with big city angst in a convincing way. Even their interconnections look unnatural. Munna (Prateik), the best written of the four, is the common link between brooding painter Arun (Aamir Khan, remarkably understated) and NRI investment banker-turned-photographer Shai (Monica Dogra) -- he washes both their clothes. Shai takes to the reticent Arun at his exhibition opening where he describes Mumbai as "my muse, my whore, my beloved", possibly the one-liner for the film itself.

Her western values help blur the class difference between Munna and her and they forge a tentative friendship. Perhaps she finds this street-smart but curiously innocent slum dweller who's also an aspiring actor (and a rat-killer by night, she later discovers), exotic. In that sense, it's an exploitative relationship and tackling it less superficially may have made for an interesting track. Munna's falling for her is of course entirely believable. As for Arun, well, everybody is intrigued by a reclusive artist who stares into nothingness for long periods and shuns all social contact. Aamir Khan tries to compensate his character's lack of depth with a rare instinctive and heartfelt performance.

The weakest link in the narrative is the video diary of Yasmin (Kriti Malhotra) the previous resident of a flat Arun moves to in one of the crowded bylanes around Mohammed Ali Road. These tapes are supposedly letters Yasmin has written to her brother back in Uttar Pradesh, but never posted. She's fresh of the boat -- newly married and living in Mumbai for just five months in a crummy neighbourhood. The device of a video diary may have been enticing from the director's point of view, but it needed to be embedded in the story in a more believable manner.

Yasmin is a plot contrivance from start to finish. Her dialect and expression both don't reflect the flavour of someone who's new to the city. Ditto Munna's oddly polished language -- for someone who's grown up in a slum and possibly never gone to school, he uses words like 'portfolio' with casual ease. Unlike his best friend Salim, drawn from the same environment and far more authentic in his representation.

Still it's fun to watch him pose for a photo-shoot with Shai (Prateik is an absolute natural). And it's lovely to catch a candid scene with Yasmin's Maharashtrian maid and her teenaged daughter who recites Tennyson's 'Brook'. Or even the 'morning after' moment of awkwardness between Arun and Shai. And Munna's stealing wistful glances at Shai, clearly unsure of what she's doing with him. 

But what about Arun's blank-faced lady neighbour who sits staring outside the door all day long? If she's a metaphor -- mute spectator to everything that passes by her -- it's clearly misplaced.

Mumbai is anything but a mute spectator. 

Comments

[Deepa Deosthalee]

Thanks Minari. VC, we can discuss it when we meet. :)

[Varkha]

It wasn't that bad! But then I am not a film critic :-)

[Minari]

Hi Deepa - agree completely with the review! Given the pre-release publicity, I had hoped for more and was really disappointed by how it simply did not connect me with the city! And this from someone who does know the city that evokes strongs feelings! It was a tour-guide's (to a firang) version of Mumbai and as superficial as the guide's spiel!