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Love you, Mumbai: Aamir Khan (left) with the
cast and crew of Dhobhi Ghat |
FILM FESTIVAL
Three Indian films at Toronto fest had Mumbai themes
By V. Radhika/Toronto
Two years after giving thumbs up to Slumdog Millionaire,
Toronto hosted Mumbai again. Mumbai played muse to three
filmmakers whose works were among 339 films screened at
the 35th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) from
September 9 to 19. Kiran Rao's Dhobi Ghat, Anurag
Kashyap's The Girl in Yellow Boots (written by the
film's lead actor and Kashyap's partner Kalki Koechlin)
and the documentary Sound of Mumbai, a musical directed
by Sarah McCarthy, have their stories set in the city.
Like his previous films, Kashyap's The Girl in Yellow
Boots takes a gritty look at Mumbai through the lens of
a bi-racial lead actor, Ruth (Kalki Koechlin), who works
at a seedy massage parlour sans a work permit while
waiting a visa extension. She has come looking for her
Indian father, who abandoned his English family when
Ruth was a child. There is no room for soft romance
here. It is all grime: of the city and its inhabitants'
emotions.
The other two films project Mumbai through a different
narrative. Dhobi Ghat unveils the multi-layered city
through its main characters whose lives intersect often.
Sound of Mumbai provides viewers a slice of the city's
slums that throb with poverty, but also optimism and
hope. Though belonging to obviously different genres,
these two films share an uncanny similarity in their
principal characters' journeys.
Directed, written and co-produced by Rao, Dhobi Ghat is
woven around four people: Shai, an Indo-American
investment banker who is in Mumbai on a sabbatical; Arun,
a reclusive and temperamental painter; their common
dhobi, Munna, a wannabe actor; and Yasmin, who
unwittingly makes a brief entry into Arun’s life.
Says Rao: "Though an actual place with a long history,
Dhobi Ghat is also a metaphor for the city where
everyone is welcome. All kinds of people come to the
city and the city levels them out."
Some of the facts that prepare the ground for Rao's
fiction are captured in McCarthy fs documentary. The
documentary is about a group of slum children who are
invited to perform Sound of Music orchestra at the
National Centre for Performing Arts.
If Dhobi Ghat's Munna is from north India, so is Aashish,
whose parents came from Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai in
search of a better life. They both live in the slum and
share the dream of making it big. Munna washes clothes
and sculpts his body with the aim of making it to the
world of celluloid, while Aashish wrestles with books
and wishes to become a doctor or a scientist. Munna
thinks Shai could help in his endeavour and Aashish
hopes his one-off tryst with the elite in the portals of
the NCPA could prove to be his ticket to fame. And
though they are nowhere close to their goal as the
movie/documentary draws to a close, yet they have their
chin up and chest out as they get ready for life's
battles.
Watching Dhobi Ghat was a "wonderful experience" for
McCarthy. She says: "There is the obvious similarity
between Munna and Aashish."But what stayed with McCarthy
was Dhobi Ghat's ending. "It sums up something that is
so Indian for me, that is even if circumstances are
really bad, you make the best of it and get on with
things [like Munna does]. Aashish also has exactly the
same impenetrable optimism that appeals to people."
Off the field
Slumdog Millionaire team was in Toronto. Danny Boyle
brought his latest film, '127 Hours'. Freida Pinto
arrived with two films (Woody Allen's 'You will Meet A
Tall Dark Stranger' and 'Miral') and beau Dev Patel.
TIFF moved into its own home. TIFF Bell Lightbox was
inaugurated on September 12 and will have year-round
programming for film aficionados. This large space was
once the site of a car-wash business centre.
The movie '127 Hours' has an intense amputation scene,
which saw many members of the audience requiring medical
attention. |
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