MovieChat Forums > Dhobi Ghat (2011) Discussion > Not for dhobis

Not for dhobis

posted 13 years ago by abhinav19
6 replies | jump to latest

After I watched this film, the negative reviews from Indian critics and users on this board make perfect sense. This isn't your yamla pagla type film. You need to be completely absorbed in film like this to enjoy it. It's more of a character piece than a film. Don't try too hard to find a story because it isn't quite there but the narrative structure brings the incidents together and strings them beautifully. Beware, this isn't your third grade comedy for the masses, but it is for the classes.
The cinematography is brilliant, performances are top notch. This should do wonders for Prateik. If you enjoy what film is suppose to be, poetic and beautiful, then you might just like this film. I am hoping this will only encourage other film makers to finally steer away from our usually embarrassing industry and make something worthwhile.

[–] erisedwitch45 13 years ago

So, the Indian users didn't like Dhobi Ghat because [according to you] they are more into third grade comedies? Well I am an Indian and I hated movies like Golmaal 3, TMK, yamla pagla... etc and didn't even like Dhobi Ghat and I am sure many would feel the same. Just because someone didn't like this movie doesn't mean that they are fans of "third grade comedies."
Though Prateik was very good in the movie but overall I didn't like it. Oh! then again maybe I don't understand art/intelligent cinema.

[–] Ihab_M 13 years ago

OP has a point. There have been many complains about how people got damn abusive while watching Dhobi Ghat in Single Screens where "masses" normally come to watch movies. People wanted entertainment and they got confused.

DG is not at all for those people who watch movies for timepass.

I am a decent man in an Indecent time

[–] evilspwn 13 years ago

kinda agree with OP here. i was completely drawn into the film and didn't want it to end. but i realise that the film couldn't have fared that well in indian single screens. maybe it would turn into a cult dvd that future filmmakers would cite as an inspiration 15 years or so from now.

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[–] niloy13 13 years ago

Dhobi Ghat was like a fresh air in Bollywood. But I don't think its going to bring much change to the industry unless other major actors in the Bollywood agree to do such films. The only reason most people even went to this movie was because of Aamir.

However, this is the first film which Kiran Rao has directed. So we can expect some good films from her in the future.

[–] bostonfilmfan 13 years ago

I am not an Indian, but I love Indian cinema as well as any country's cinema when it's good. From my point of view this movie definitely is "serious" and it stays with you for a while after you have watched it, but that doesn't mean it has no flaws. (I never figured out the Shai character - it seems like she has no internal anchor and simply attaches to anything that moves in her direction. Under no circumstances can I understand an attraction a New York banker can feel for an uneducated Mumbai dhobi, even if he is cute. So that part just makes me struggle.)

What I did appreciate in this film is its sincerity and almost palpable atmosphere of a city so populated and so diverse and yet a city where it is so easy to be lonely. That may be the point of the film - no matter what the characters do, through what motions they go, the end is the same as the beginning - everyone is alone, and I doubt there will be a happy ending for Shaina and Arun.

[–] sabiqoon 11 years ago

You are spot on when you say...Not for dhobis; This isn't your yamla pagla type film; Don't try too hard to find a story because it isn't quite there...; this isn't your third grade comedy for the masses, but it is for the classes.

DG is a remarkable movie. I totally loved it.Someone on this board rightly classified this movie as "serious intelligent Cinema".