Dhobi Ghat Movie Review : Prateik Babbar, Monica Dogra Impressive

In a neatly canned shot of Kiran Rao’s Dhobi Ghat , Prateik Babbar as washerman Munna reveals to the pretty NRI girl Shai (Monica Dogra) that he landed in Mumbai from Darbhanga jilla because he wasn’t getting enough to eat at home. He wants to be a filmstar — the next Salman Khan — and coyly asks the girl, a hobby photographer, if she’ll shoot his portfolio.

You could say it’s one of the zillion Slumdog Moments in Dhobi Ghat , manufactured to please the target fest- circuit crowd in the West that laps up desi poverty. Or, you could note the way Prateik (re) acts in the scene. He isn’t overjoyed, he isn’t scared. What you take back from the shot is the silent hesitation in his eyes, which projects a sort of consciousness of the class divide between him and the uptown Shai who offers him a cup of chai and lets him sit on her living room sofa.

The scene, as well as the film, tells you one thing: get used to Prateik Babbar. In Dhobi Ghat , an actor is born. Kiran Rao’s film is just a sneak peek of the talent minehouse at hand. It is upto Bollywood now to tap the raw young actor who at the same time bursts with energy and holds back just that bit to keep you asking for more.

While on Aamir, his big challenge clearly lay in lending his name (and funds) to a film that doesn’t try to deny its anti- mainstream mood. Kiran Rao’s indie- flavoured manifesto of Mumbai is everything you would not expect an Aamir Khan film to be. There’s an exceptional soundtrack but the music is sparsely used. Defining Mumbai through the eye of its assorted cast — each of whom plays an artist in his/ her own way — the film is deliberately shot by Tushar Kanti Ray to look like a documentary. And the lead cast, greenhorns all barring Aamir, conveniently lets you forget the fact that they are actors playing out rehearsed roles.

Rao’s script captures parallel sub plots. Shai comes to India on a sabbatical and sets off to shoot arty snaps of downtown Mumbai. She finds a guide in Munna, the deal being she will shoot his portfolio in return. There’s Arun ( Aamir), successful artist who stumbles upon a pile of video tapes on moving home, left by the ex- tenants. As Arun plays the tapes out of curiosity he discovers the narrator Yasmin ( Kriti Malhotra) who, it turns out as the tapes roll, is suffocated by a loveless existence.

Rao is impressive in the way she captures two Mumbais through the lenses of Shai and Yasmin. In essence, Mumbai itself is the fifth hero of the film as Rao draws a portrait of class divide. In one sequence, Arun calls the city “ my muse, my whore, my beloved”. The line defines Rao’s definition of Mumbai.