Dhobi Ghat , a film directed by Kiran Rao and produced by Aamir Khan starts nowhere and ends nowhere but there lies the essence of the movie. The whole ninety minutes  the audience expects something to happen , some climax or a high point to take place and thus some kind of disappointment might be faced by a few who expect it to be ending in a conventional happy or a sad manner. For that matter there exists no situation which one might call as the end. Kiran Rao has left it completely to the audience to decide way they want to perceive the movie.

There is no one story but a few inter-meshing plots moving around four lives which are closely and yet not closely inter-connected with each other. Monica Dogra (Shye) plays the role of an American Indian Banker who has come to India for exploring her skills further in photography. On other hand, lies Amir Khan, a self- absorbed solitary modern art painter who cherishes his solitude all the more when he comes across few tapes of the previous Tenant, Yasmin (Kriti Malhotra). Vicariously he lives a Life shown by Yasmin through those clips which she had made for her brother. In between we are exposed to the real world of Mumbai shown through the eyes of a washer man Mannu (Prateik Babbar). The dirty darkened walled buildings , congested habitat of the hard working Mumbaikers , the common daily struggle to make both the ends meet in Dhobi Ghat makes it  a worthy eyepiece for the ones who are ignorant of the yet darker terrains of life.

Kiran choses the characters coming from different walks of life but equates them all at a same level as she weaves it all in the same shade of emotions and so is the audience woven into the same milieu. With an unconventional direction , Kiran Rao has dared to structure this  Genre differently but not by adding anything novel to it but rather keeping it as plain and raw as it should be. By the end it looks like the part of anybody and everybody’s life. It is a must watch if you are a seeker of something raw rather than frivolous.

However, it is not understandable where ‘Dhobi Ghat’ was unusual except a film without songs and interval. For the sake of intellectual and art film one can’t appreciate a half baked, ill executed project, just for the sake of Aamir who has a lot of good work behind his back. Do we really applaud a documentary that is influenced by a drama rather than being raw and uncut, it only ends up as a chase in travesty.

The documentary rather than the film actually tells us the story of a girl Yasmin Noor (Kriti Malhotra) whose recorded tapes finds a hand in Arun (Aamir Khan), a painter, loner, intense and mostly silent who meets the girl Shai (Monica Dogra), an investment banker who is on a sabbatical trip to Mumbai from USA to pursue her hobby, photography. Shai gets a friend in Munna (Prateik Babbar) who is a ‘Dhobi’ and aspires to become an actor. On paper you will find the story intriguing. How the four characters are linked?

Shai meets Arun in an art exhibition and falls for him after a one-night stand but Arun gets apologetic in the morning and withdraws himself from any emotional attachment, displays a remorseful and impulsive behavior which makes Shai more than surprised.

She gets close to Munna and becomes his friend after realizing he knows Arun and his whereabouts.  Shai gives a favor to Munna – portfolio pictures – and in returns asks him to show her the real Mumbai. The intriguing and poignant part of the story is Yasmin’s video tapes that shows her life in Mumbai which is narrated and captured on a handheld video camera which Arun finds when he shifts into a new flat.

Overall Dhobi Ghat is all about Aamir and the story of Yasmin that plays on the video, Prateik and Monica works as fillers to the story all this while. Aamir’s character is a little too silent with same expression till the end and moreover his lighting up cigarettes too often looks artificial.

Dhobi Ghat being Aamir’s movie will get audience on the weekend but it will start hurting the actor later in the week more than anyone else.

The cinematography of Tushar Kanti Ray isn’t applaud-able, barring few frames. The background score of Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla was only soothing aspect when you start getting mild headache.

The film is a contrasting reality to what Aamir has done so far before this and that is the gist of the film which comes on the canvas at the end, but only few, who understand art, can make it out.

Kiran Rao will set the celluloid, hopefully on fire with Superstar Hubby Aamir Khan to take us on a ride to DHOBI GHAT which is slated to release on 21st of January. The past record of Aamir’s production isn’t very interesting when it comes to women directors making experimental films. But we hope Kiran will turn the table in favor of Mr. Perfectionist, to live happily ever after.

The month will also see Samir Karnik once again on the center stage – earlier directed Heroes (an average outing) – with Deol family bonanza YAMLA PAGAL DEEWANA releasing on 14th January. The trailers look promising, making it one of the most viewed teasers in its very first week of release. We just hope this sweet family (Dharmendra & Sons) get to taste a success together after debacle of ‘Apne’ and ‘Dillagi’.

NO ONE KILLED JESSICA– Having agreed to the fact that “No one watched Rani” in 2010. She comes up with a strong statement. Rani has teamed up with the talented Vidya Balan and Raj Kumar Gupta, who was highly appreciated for “Aamir’. This one is going to be the Dark Horse of them all. Expectations are high with ‘No One Killed Jessica’ for being a movie based on a true story.

2010 was the year of Ajay Devgn and in 2011 he has teamed up with Madhur Bhandarkar in a light hearted romantic comedy “DIL TO BACHCHA HAI JI “which is slated to release in the last week of January, on 28th.  It seems Bhandarkar is playing safe this time around after witnessing the fate of the Bhansalis and Gowarikars in too serious movies and believed more on bigger canvas. These two have always disagreed with the fact (when even the weather could change, why can’t we), after all “DIL TO BACHCHA HAI JI”.

When we could not digest a 40 year old Pamela romping around, a month back, how could we take Gul Panaag, who is frivolously tweeting about her ‘Turning 30’. Prakash Jha should have turned 18 instead of TURNING 30. To at least get a good opening.

ASHOKA-the hero (an animation film about the life of King Ashoka), it is a suggestion to bollywood that they should stop making animated movies. We have seen ‘Jumbo’ ‘Toonpur ka Super Hero’ and ‘Roadside Romeo’ where Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Saif Ali Khan couldn’t save these films from becoming a fun in their own. The makers of Ashoka should start taking precautions, I will not suggest an ‘iPill’ that will be too strong recommendation, but they should look into it.

Apart from that, January brings to you ‘Yeh Faasle’, ’Vikalp’, ’Impatient Vivek’, ’Hostel’, and ‘Mumbai mast Kalandar’. That was more than an introduction.

Writer is an assistant director, script writer, photographer and story teller. He is based in Mumbai and can be reached at http://www.facebook.com/yasser.abidin

Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries) may have some differences in the treatment, in comparison to ‘Saazish’ where the characters fall in love and set up for a romantic sail on a yacht, only to get into a conspiracy that shakes their belief on each other. However, Dhobi Ghat’s storyline intersects the four and changes their lives, leaving them into a compelling relationship which later turns upside down.

Apart from Aamir, the film stars Prateik Babbar (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na), Monica Dogra, Kriti Malhotra, Kitu Gidwani, Nafisa Khan.

Dhobi Ghat will be released in the last week of February and it is 25th 2011, after too much of consideration and final thumbs up from Aamir.

Writer is a freelance journalist, script writer, avid blogger, poet, dreamer and story teller. Can be reached at http://twitter.com/#!/arziyaan