Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries) is the much-hyped movie by Kiran Rao that released earlier this year. The movie portrays a few days in the lives of 4 people in Mumbai, whose experiences turn out to be interconnected. Arun (Aamir Khan) is a painter, living alone, his divorced wife and child now in Australia. He draws energy from the buzz of the city for his work. Shai (Monica Dogra) is on a sabbatical in Mumbai, on a photography project to capture the life and professions of the city. Munna (Pratiek Babbar) is a dhobi by day and a rat-killer by night. He has dreams of being a Bollywood star one day. And finally Yasmin (Kriti Malhotra), a newly-wed small-town girl from Uttar Pradesh experiencing the big city and recording her moments on a video camera. Something seems amiss in her life.
Like the title suggests, there is no real plot in Dhobi Ghat, it is just what happens in the lives of these characters. All the characters feel real and complex, portrayed well by the actors. The cinematography is excellent, capturing the nuances of the people and the city. People die, things happen, moments pass by slowly, and the city feels like a throbbing living organism. There is a creative vision and some good writing here. Dhobi Ghat is a snapshot of Indian city life, nothing more, nothing less.
