Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries) Movie Review by Movie Critics
Taran Adarsh (BollywoodHungama.com) 4/5
On the whole, DHOBI GHAT is an imposing and vibrant cinematic portrait, appending itself to the new wave of independent Indian cinema which I am extremely pleased to applaud. It is art house cinema with European sensibilities, embellished with a well thought out story that’s devoid of cliches. This ingenious motion picture caters more to the intelligentsia and connoisseurs of world cinema and will therefore garner more patronage and benefaction from the metropolitan audience in India chiefly and global spectators predominantly.
Kiran Rao has tried to be as realistic as possible, and that’s the USP of the film. Her choice of subject and handling is one of the reasons that makes this film watchable. Dhobi Ghat is sure to find a niche audience and will be a hit in festival circuits. Being a Mumbai-centric film, it may connect with the audience in the city. But it needs to be seen whether it will find takers in other parts of the country.
Kiran Rao’s first feature film is uneven, particularly in the writing. It’s neither totally impressive nor totally dismissable. Should you see Dhobi Ghat, then? Yes, if only to get away from the washing machine.
Rao’s film is like fresh air, as elusive in Mumbai’s leaky chawls as in its smoky drawing rooms. Some directors use sledgehammers to make their point. Others use a scalpel. Well, welcome the scalpel.
‘Dhobi Ghat’ is occasionally indulgent and moves at a glacial pace. Yet Rao creates some endearing characters, and embraces Mumbai despite its dichotomies. The result is a film that slowly grows on you. If you have an open mind and an appetite for the experimental, take a bite out of this one.
Despite the slick, haunting promos and coordinated media build up, Dhobi Ghat strictly remains an art house film with limited appeal, and its subtitle, Mumbai Diaries, captures the genre of the film correctly.
Dhobi Ghat is like that rich tapestried melody whose metre and rhythm you cannot ever forget even though the lines may be forgotten. A nostalgic elegiac enigmatic journey into the heart and soul of Bombay before the city became Mumbai it’s a splendid slice-of-life film with no camera consciousness visible in any of the characters. This is cinema at its purest shot in places where cameras are not allowed.
The movie belongs to intelligentsia with its storyline based on the city of Mumbai. The film will find many takers at the multiplexes of metros and is likely to be patronized by those who relish world cinema more than anything else. A brilliant flick from Kiran Rao.
Dhobi Ghat is a gentry film for a very select audience which likes festival films. It will have to rely on Aamir Khan’s presence in its cast and the Republic Day holiday mid-week to take its collections to a somewhat respectable level.
Every year literally hundreds of thousands throng to the city of dreams, Mumbai. To cover so many dreams in a small span of an-hour-and-a-half calls for some brilliant filmmaking. And watching “Dhobi Ghat” will make you realise that there indeed have been very few debuts as stunning as this one.
Dhobi Ghat is a bright little postcard that will hold your attention for a few seconds and make you smile. And it’s a moody painting that will entice you to linger and stare and stay with you forever. Either ways it’s made of the stuff that makes life what it is. Down to the last intriguing detail.
`Dhobi Ghat’ is a strangely uneven film. Its beginning feels amateurishly put together ; as it heads onwards, though, it finds an easy, flowing rhythm with just the occasional stutter.
Here’s an interactive preview of the film that gives you an overview of the different aspects of Dhobi Ghat before you venture into the theatre to watch Dhobi Ghat.
Live Tweets on Dhobi Ghat From Twitter
Dhobi Ghat is a bright little postcard that will hold your attention for a few seconds and make you smile. And it’s a moody painting that will entice you to linger and stare and stay with you forever. Either ways it’s made of the stuff that makes life what it is. Down to the last intriguing detail.
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Mohammed
I enjoyed the film and I liked the acting of Mounica Dogra….