BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

vipinkadavil My observations,1. The chaotic life of Arun's life gradually beaming up with inspiration with Yasmin's Vlogs which she has defined as "Letters to her brother". Yasmin was able to capture the rainy days in the way it was supposed to be described as. Any other narration on those rainy days would have totally destroyed it. But her narration was spot on. This goes to show that you don't always need Amitabh Bachan as a narrator. You just need an actor with conviction. Arun's transition from inspired to depressed was captured with perfection and that painting which was done based on the Vlog was exceptional.2. It's funny that they named the movie Dhobi Ghat. I thought the movie would revolve around him. I was expecting something like Lunchbox (Yes I saw Dhobi Ghat after watching Lunchbox). There might be a connection somewhere but I am guessing that the common presence of Munna in both Arun and Shia's life might be the reason but I still would want the movie to have a clearer title.3. Even though Munna's performance wasn't brilliant, Shia and Munna was enough to keep the audience fixated. Of the few things, I felt right about Munna was that his aspirations to become an actor as opposed to his livelihood were perfectly convincing. When he revealed that he was from Bihar, I was searching for his typical Bihari accent. I might be stereotyping here but the plot had so much to offer that it didn't come across as a drawback to me.4. Shia instead of being this typical NRI from America was shown as the apt character display of what lengths an NRI would go to get what she wanted. In a normal Bollywood movie, we would not have seen her going on top of a building under construction. Even if we would, there would be nonsensical comedic characters that were totally out of place.Bottomline: - What stayed with me was how those rainy days were shown the way I as a viewer would want to see it.

jagruti rele Dhobi Ghat (mumbai diaries) is one piece of art of the Indian cinema. It is defiantly not the normal Hindi cinema stuff ... although i am glad that it isn't. I personally am very attached to Mumbai I was born there and lived for 10years+ therefore i am very attached to the city as well as the movie. The movie starts with an outlook on the city of Mumbai. It revolves around the lives of 4 main characters and there drastically different lives. The movie has these characters that are connected but still not connected set in Mumbai just the way Mumbai is. As the movie progresses the story unfolds and the story and the characters get involved with each other.All the characters are from different walks of live and strive to find a silver lining which they may or may not find.Over all i loved it, its a kind of an art movie and its not everyones cup of tea. Although its great work by the actors and director!

Newyorking There are so many good reviews about this movie, so I watched it also because it is produced by Amir Khan. The movie tries to be deep without really succeeding. Its a story about a few characters - Prateik plays a laundryman/dhobi, an immigrant photographer comes over from the US and befriends Prateik, Amir Khan is a divorced painter, and a woman records her life in videos that Amir finds and watches. I found Prateik the most interesting mainly because he had several shades - he was a wannabe actor, and interacted with a few different characters through his dhobi work. The immigrant was totally shallow, a typical photographer taking photos of every part of India and finding it all quite deep and profound, yet ashamed of letting her friends know that she knows Prateik. She was the most under- developed character. Amir Khan is just there as a painter. The worse part was that the immigrant slept with Amir the first time she met him yet was surprised that he didn't want to continue the "relationship" and considered it a one-night stand - duh, then don't sleep with the man the first night you meet him!Overall, the movie tries very hard to be deep and falls short. It was a boring movie, with no character development. You really don't understand what the characters are about, what drives them, etc. The movie is also directed and edited poorly, some scenes are very abrupt. I am very surprised Amir did this movie, he must really love Kiran Rao. He is such a perfectionist yet he acted in such a horribly directed film. I don't recommend this film.I usually love art films and have seen many many art movies, this one tries hard to be one but fails miserably.

sindhuja-p-s A year too late, but Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries) is definitely worth watching. Surprisingly short for a Hindi movie and one is visually engaged with the brilliant camera work. The music is haunting and aesthetically coordinated with the scenes & characters.I love how the underlying 'feel' of the movie is of melancholia. The street level realism gives a taste of what Bombay is like.Of course the screenplay at times was redundant and a bit overindulgent. Monica Dogra's character seemed to reinforce the existing stereotype of a typical NRI with 'shallow' dialogues. Nevertheless my faith in Indian cinema has been momentarily restored!