Dhobi Ghat

Dhobi Ghaat-Mumbai Diaries:I didn't even know that Mumbai Diaries was a part of the title but thats what the film is truly about.Mumbai is not just a city/habitat but a character which is the common thread linking the 4 human characters.It's like a person molding all of them differently.A bored wife from small town finds Mumbai - a companion,the ocean - a confidante, Mumbai rains- the romance that she could never find in her husband.A girl from New York finds Mumbai to be an exploration of the landscape and of human beings,life in its by lanes and how it changes by day and by night,discoveries and realities of life ,of the wedge still existing between the rich and the poor so simply shown in the way that tea is served to an employer and to a Dhobi.Prateik Babbar perfects the lingo and nuances of a Dhobi/life in slums to the T.Pratik's character is so well defined from how he goes by the railway tracks doing his daily morning ablutions while the sky is still dark, the place where he lives, the bed soaked by the first sign of rains and for some privacy just a curtain made of patches of cloth and no door.Aamir's character becomes intertwined with a woman who is just an accidental and disconnected find and goes on to become a muse and then to someone whose loss is nerve-wracking.There are just too many beautiful moments only to be seen to be experienced in this movie, the first time Prateik/Munna gathers enough courage just to share the armrest in the theater with Monica Dongra/Shai and how happy and blissfully he is doing that, how he finds shame in being a rat killer,how he falls in love but restrains himself even while having the opportunity, how he even tries to make her feel jealous even while realizing the futility of doing so. These characters are what every Mumbaikar is all about, going about our daily lives/chores while still aspire to find love, build a connection with another person,achieve our dreams, find a little romance by the sea, culinary bliss in the Malpua of Mohammed Ali road and Bhel-puri of Juhu. It's all there in mumbai and in this beautiful film. The background score and the Mumbai noise lifts the film, the casting is apt and such a delight and the story lucid.I loved the end.For a first time director its certainly an achievement to transform her vision so beautifully on screen. Sheer Poetry in motion. Take a bow!