Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Dhobi Ghat: an amateur's mini-review


A pretentious attempt at realistic cinema by a novice who made even Aamir Khan stink. Cinematic collage got a new nadir while Aamir's dialogue delivery is best left undiscussed. Monica Dogra is a breath of fresh air with her innocent yet sultry avatar. Prateik, although underutilized, impresses for a newbie.


The start is unreasonably dreary and the plot never really picks up. There is no story - we have no qualms about it - but the details are conspicuously missing from a movie that would want to go down as a collage. The dullest plot - that of Yasmeen - makes the viewer feel cheated when he gets to know that the entire melo has been for nothing. Actually, only when the 'secret' is revealed does Aamir radiate sheer brilliance: the eyes doing it the good old AK way.


Camera angles are weird but impressive - sometimes giving the feel of a documentary. There are minor patches of sheer excellence which is the least you expect from an Aamir Khan Productions' baby. Background score - or the lack of it in the most part - fits stunningly seamlessly with the theme despite the use of unfamiliar instruments.


All in all, probably an experimental blot on the production house that boasts of some real gems. But then, anything for the missus.

53 comments:

  1. Damn, I don't agree. =P . I kinda liked the movie. Aamir khan wasn't the usual aamir khan, but still, he was good.

    Btw, I would appreciate if you could comment on
    http://pensez.blogspot.com/2011/01/unusually-imperfectly-complete.html

    Would help me win the contest, Pleej. =)

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  2. Wow, I yet haven't seen Dhobi Ghat. But yes will watch it to see it.

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  3. very mini!but wud still watch d moving going by the rule dat wat u dislike,i generally tend to like n vice versa

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  4. wen r WE going to watch d muvi again?

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  5. Instead of watching the movie, all I have been doing is counting, the number of positive reviews against the number of negative.
    The score is almost even on my blog list 4(good)- 3(bad).

    Am still counting.

    Cheers,
    Blasphemous Aesthete

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  6. Havent seen it...so cant comment. There are huge expectations from an Amir movie.

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  7. Meher.. Well, you have the right to disagree. (:
    Commented...ATB!

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  8. @ Prateek: Trust me, man...Watch it only when you have lotttsss of time!

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  9. @ Devil: Yeah, I have a strong feeling that you're gonna love the movie. And why are 'we' watching this movie..me going through the shit again?

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  10. @ BA: That's at least better than the movie! Tell me the final scores once they stagnate!

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  11. @ Alka: Probably that's a reason as well why the movie sucks. With great banner comes great expectations and responsibilities.

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  12. Dhobi Ghat- Not a bad directorial debut, few very promising new actors, great camera..thts it. the script is inconclusive theres
    no plot there is nothing to rave about this movie.. theres a lot of hype from people who wants to make themselves look intelligent art house film lovers.

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  13. If the movie was a novel I'd give it all stars. I loved the writing :)
    Having said that, for me it was a 'okay' movie.
    But still a little curious about the title..

    Watched it today :)

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  14. @ hashir: :D totally agree about the later part which applies to some of the people I know, though not all, hopefully!

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  15. @ Dipa: Well can't relate to that. I don't read, like, at all. The relavance of the title remains elusive to me as well! Good point! Probably just another name to appeal to the nri crowd in a peculiar desi way.

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  16. Well an emoticon with the tongue hung out is all I can write to that, Devil!

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  17. It had its pros and cons. Nice acting by newcomers, but open ends in the story. Theme music is great, background music could have been better. Plot could have been more solid, but seemed like they wanted to make everything vague just to give it an 'arty' feel. Best thing about the movie: Dhobi's cat was really cute. ;)

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  18. partly agree with you... but for me what worked was the attempt to make someone different...the thought process..unlike the silly meaningless cinema that is dished out to us week after week! hope other film makers try and deliver better cinema

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  19. hmm...i rather liked it...and i thought it captured bombay quite beautifully...but then movies are pretty subjective...
    http://thejuvenileadult.blogspot.com/

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  20. @ Sushant: Well, I'll hop over real soon!

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  21. @ SP: An even better and crisper review. Like.

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  22. @ Phoenix: You cant just like a movie just because it tried to be different than the shit we shouldn't even talk about. It could have been much better especially when such big names were associated.

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  23. yaa movie suxx man, big tym, i mean i wont gv dose sharp intrinsic details like uts bt fr nme dhobt ghat(iya)..

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  24. The movie probably tried to do something different. Whether it succeeded or not is subjective. I liked the succinctness of your review. But then, I expected no less.

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  25. I havent watch this movie. Interesting review! :)

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  26. I didn't ever hear about this movie. :p
    And now when I have, I shouldn't watch it. :)

    Hope you are doing great!

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  27. It's a different movie...and the opinion is highly subjective. But I appreciate your writing style and point of view:)
    I too have posted my views, though it isn't a movie review as such and would appreciate if you could comment on it...
    An amateur blogger's point of view:)
    http://shapingupsomesprinkledthoughts.blogspot.com/

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  28. @ Komal: It's actually very weird. It's an Aamir Khan Productions baby which was promoted big time!

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  29. Thank you, KT. I shall hop over, real soon.

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  30. I havent watch this movie. Interesting review! :)

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  31. Ok...have not seen it yet, didn't feel the urge to, so can't really say anything about it. But I think I should now, for everyone is talking about how bad it was!

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  32. Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.

    Surgical Towel

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  33. Well, I have not seen the movie. Good post though!!

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  34. Hey Mango Man, thanks for following my blog. I have now shifted to http://capturedalive.wordpress.com/ for my photographs...

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  35. i am damn sure you will understand both arun and yasmeen in the next couple of years...and may be then, like the movie, for as they say, a work of art is always few years ahead of its time...read this and may be you will find urself closer to the plot
    http://chand-lamhe-fursat-ke.blogspot.com/2011/01/dhobi-ghat.html

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  36. Thanks for spamming, Chhipa and Boundlesstech.

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  37. For the sake of Kiran rao, I guess you're right, Pradip!

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  38. For the entire duration of the movie, I had no clue what was going on. It was like No Smoking from Anurag Kashyap. WTFFF

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  39. Eggjactly!! That movie was hyper-abnormal too!

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