Review of Dhobi Ghat (2010) by Eric G — 03 Feb 2011

This is not a Bollywood film. In fact, Dhobi Ghat resembles Iñárritu's Babel in content and in style, or Kieslowski's films: intertwining lives going through life's joys and pains.

Here, in addition to the 4 characters we follow, there is a 5th one, linking them all: the city of Mumbai. The city is rarely shown in this way in films, not sublimed nor deprecated, but rather as a background slowly coming to the fore, the tapestry upon which the lives of the characters are weaved.

This is not the kind of film that follows a "Hollywoodian" type of narrative structure with a obvious conclusion. Questions still remain at the end. So it will frustrate some people. But it's easy to watch, the photography is not in your face. Colours are subdued most of the time and this fits very well with the story. We are intimate with the characters without feeling intrusive or voyeur.

The performance of all actors is solid. Aamir Khan plays and also produced the film directed by his wife, Kiran Rao, her first film. She worked on the beautiful Monsoon wedding by Mira Nair, and I can see the influence there.

Very enjoyable film from the independent indian cinema scene.