Dhobi Ghat

Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries) is the directorial debut of actor Aamir Khan's wife Kiran Rao. The film has done quite well in the festival circuits and has developed quite a hype among the Indian cine goers. The film got released yesterday here and it runs with No Interval.

The film follows the life of four interesting characters and showcases the connection they share. Prateik Babbar plays the role Munna, a dhobi and a wannabe actor. Aamir Khan stars as Arun, a painter who is in solitary and searches for inspiration for his next project. Monica Dogra plays the role Shai, an NRI investment banker on a sabbatical and is looking to explore the poor in Mumbai. And finally we have Kriti Malhotra playing the character Yasmin, a newlywed small town  girl who comes to the big city and is awestruck at how the city works.

Arun meets Shai at one of his art show and they end up having a one night stand after which he pushes her away with his attitude. Shai meets Munna and makes him her guide-friend and while the two spend more time together he develops a crush on her. But Shai still has some unfinished business with Arun. Meanwhile Arun finds his inspiration through a video diary of Yasmin, the ex-resident of his newly rented house. He finds it endearing to see the awe with which Yasmin sees the big city and the way she sees humor in the daily life of this city.

The director has done a great job in realistically showing the awkwardness that a dhobi faces with getting close with an uptown girl and the awe and discomfort that a small town girl would face in a big city. Kiran Rao as a writer has done a excellent job whereas Kiran Rao as a director has still some areas that needs to be worked on.

The ensemble cast of the film is fantastic.The lead Prateik Babbar gives a strong performance and the two lead ladies where pleasing to watch while Aamir is simply Aamir. The reason that I got glued to the screen was the beautiful cinematography by Tushar Kanti Ray and the elegant background score by Gustavo Santaolalla.

This genre of film is something new to the Indian cine goers. So if you guys decide to watch this movie, go to the theater with some patience and an open mind and you are sure to enjoy this film.

 My Rating: 4/5

I Hate Luv Storys

Yesterday night I went to the movies to watch the movie I Hate Luv Storys. The movie is the first venture for the director Punit Malhotra. To be frank I didn't expect much when I decided to watch this yesterday but I was pleasantly surprised.

Imran Khan stars as Jay, a typical Casanova who doesn,t believe in the word 'love' yet works as the Assistant to one of the most successful romantic directors in the bollywood industry, Veer Kapoor played by Sameer Soni. Sonam Kapoor stars as Simran, a typical bollywood girly character who works as an Art Director for Veer and has a perfect fiancé Raj played by Sameer Dattani. The two lead characters are off to a rough start. But Veer decides to punish Jay for his lousy behavior by transferring him under Simran as a prop buyer(Although I don't believe that any director would do this since props are important and it needs to handled by experts...carrying on).

This way the leads get to spend more time with each other, during which we get to see the same old bollywood romantic clichés. But the way the director carried it was good, there were some really good comic scenes that made me laugh. The Music by Vishal-Shekar is vibrant and the background score by Salim Sullaiman really brings life for the movie. Though there were some scenes which were "inspired" from HIMYM, like  'The Hot Vs Crazy scale', 'The Climax', etc, I liked this film.

The first half of the movie is really good whereas the second half brings us the same old romantic clichés. In the end if you don't demand too much, you will definitely exit the theaters with a smile on your face.

My Rating: 3/5