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Dhobi Ghat

Dhobi Ghat Poster

Critic Rating

5.3

10 Reviews
10 Ratings
50%
in favor

Audience Rating

8.2
1 Review
5 Ratings

Movie Info

Director

Running Time

Language

Hindi

Synopsis

The lives of four people intersect in Mumbai: a washer-man who wants to become an actor, a banker-turned-photographer, a painter looking for inspiration, and a newly-married immigrant who journals her experiences on home video.Wikipedia

Dhobi Ghat Reviews

6

Beautifully shot and aided by an evocative background score, 'Dhobi Ghat' is occasionally indulgent and moves at a glacial pace. Yet Rao creates some endearing characters, and embraces Mumbai despite its dichotomies. The result is a film that slowly grows on you.

Shubhra Gupta
Indian Express

5

A strangely uneven film. Its beginning feels amateurishly put together ; as it heads onwards, though, it finds an easy, flowing rhythm with just the occasional stutter.

Raja Sen
Rediff

5

Dhobi Ghat is a middling debut, watchable due to its nuances but simply not interesting enough to recommend. Yet Rao seems assured of her craft, and worth looking out for in the future.

Nikhat Kazmi
Times Of India

7

A lyrical ode to the modern malady -- metro-eccentricity -- Dhobi Ghat is intelligent and artistic cinema.

Mayank Shekhar
Hindustan Times

7

This film is first-rate tribute; it’s visceral, I realise -- both clichés for compliments. Nothing more appropriate comes to mind.

If you are willing to have patience, Dhobi Ghat comes together nicely. It has a poetry and melancholy that stays with you. I recommend that you give it a shot.

4

For entertainment or emotional stimulation look elsewhere. There’s every reason you can miss this one. Unless you like to believe you’re among the intelligentsia.

2

On the whole, Dhobi Ghat is a gentry film for a very select audience which likes festival films. It will have to rely on Aamir Khan’s presence in its cast and the Republic Day holiday mid-week to take its collections to a somewhat respectable level.

5

DHOBI GHAT is surely a different and brave step in Indian cinema; but not exactly a pleasing one.

Dhobi Ghat is meant for Mumbai lovers. For good and bad, Mumbai is what it is: home to millions who adore the city which is covered beautifully by Kiran Rao.

Audience Reviews for Dhobi Ghat

  • Neonika
    Neonika
    27 reviews
    Top Reviewer
    9

    Kiran Rao is in a league of her own. She has no intentions to pander to a commercial taste or use any tried and tested formulas here. It appears as though she has pretty much made this film from her own inspirations and not from popular influences. In short, you are more likely to appreciate it if you have a taste for experimental cinema and you don't mind the abruptness that leaves you lingering in the dark, like in many European films.
    I was pleasantly surprised by Prateik Babbar's immense acting talent and strong screen presence (much like his mom, Smita Patil). Aamir Khan never fails to impress. What I liked most about the film is that it stayed with me a long time after the end credits rolled and I realized that I really cared about the characters - the regular people of Mumbai - who pass you by in the crowds, each harboring an interesting story of their own.

    June 02, 13