Lost in Ghat

How many people have tried to frame the flavour of Mumbai? How many writers she has seduced? How many dreams she has bolstered? Myriad is the only word which can count all of these. But still Mumbai questions everybody. The transitions she has been witnessing throughout her existence make her so much alive every other day that one just cannot pay any heed towards her growing age & decaying features. Kiran Rao (Mrs. Aamir Khan) is the latest prey which she has engrossed. I went for the movie (Dhobi Ghat) with hell lot of expectations. Don’t know why, but I was under the preoccupied mindset that it will be a nice entertainer. As soon as the movie started my impression was shattered into pieces. There was a warning displayed after the titles “Smoking is injurious to health.”

Arun, who is a painter by profession & loner by nature, shifts to a new apartment for his next canvas expression. It’s an old house in the mess of Mumbai. (You can smell what is been cooked in the apartment in front of you.) He meets a charming investment banking consultant, Shai, who is on sabbatical to do a research on small businesses, in the party arranged to float his new paintings. Third character is Munna. He does all the filthy chores one can imagine. His shanty depicts the true image of Mumbai by all means. In a room (?) of the size little more than a toilet, 4 people are trying to change their destinies - Munna, his 2 brothers, & their mom. Forth character is Yasmin. It’s the most intriguing character. She has got married newly & has shifted to Mumbai with her husband. Dhobi Ghat is interweaving of these 4 & Mumbai acts like a silent observer.

Munna is Dhobi (in a daytime), a typical yokel, trying to resonate on multiple frequencies. His aspiration to become actor & the efforts he takes amaze us. You will be definitely stunned to see how he lives, exercises, eats, works, safe-keeps his money; in his 70 square feet shanty. His interaction with Shai as her Dhobi, friend & one-way lover is excellent to watch. Shai is an amateur photographer & is shown capturing any thing which you would imagine. Black & white, Colour photos of Mumbai, characters, Dhobis is not only artistic but paints the image of the film inside you. She is in love with Arun because she feels there was more than a sex when they met after party which threw open Arun’s work. She always enquires his whereabouts to Munna, as he is a common link (Dhobi) for both of them. Yasmin, which we see only through her recordings with husband, keeps haunting us. Arun has got these recordings in his new home & has got attracted towards it. He is painting his new work – recordings of Yasmin are running side by side. Yasmin’s videos keep showing us flavours of Mumbai, beaches, crowded shops, Yasmin’s own messages to his brother, etc. These recordings are filled with mystery, curiosity, uneasiness.

The performances are mind blowing. Yasmin (Kirti Malhotra) has done a stupendous job. Her eyes speak lot more than anything else. Shai (Monica Dogra) has managed to show ambivalence arising out of situations quite well. Munna (Prateik Babbar) has played an innocent folk. But at the same time he is shown to handle strange situations with quite stubbornness. Arun (Aamir Khan) has acted well to adjust himself to not so core role. Background score is awesome & makes necessary impact when required. Cheers to Gustavo Santaolalla. Entire movie is shown in frames. Arun is painting – Scene is cut to show recordings of Yasmin - Scene is again cut to show Munna washing cloths. It has some strange effect on the psyche of viewer. It can’t be expressed so well in words. In the film too, Silence speaks more than words. This is where Kiran emerges as Kiran Rao & not as Mrs. Aamir Khan.


What happens to Arun & to his paintings? What about Munna’s love for Shai? Will Shai tell Arun what she is feeling? What about Yasmin? Do her recordings reach their destination? What is her story? Why one old lady, a neighbour of Arun, does not speak at all. She just looks messed up. Hmmmm. Some of these questions will get answered once you watch the movie. But you will have lot many questions left unanswered.

One thing is for sure – The texture & the feel of this movie is very different. You are always made to think the missing. This very effect i had witnessed after a Marathi movie Vihir, which has been acclaimed internationally.

I came to know why warning was shown after the titles.

Prasanna Vaidya.
Prasanna.vaidya@gmail.com
29/01/2011