Box Office Report: ‘Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji’ VS ‘Dhobi Ghat’: After a dull start on Friday, Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji picked up on Saturday and Sunday, but movie couldn’t do much dhamaal at the box office. This Madhur Bhandarkar film had an average first weekend of around Rs 14.50 crore approx.
Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji collected Rs 3.95 crore approx on Friday, Rs 4.85 crore approx on Saturday and Rs 5.75 crore approx on Sunday. Though it’s decent till now, as per trade reports, a big jump and good second weekend is possible for the film because there are no major releases this week except Yeh Saali Zindagi. Coming to Dhobi Ghat, the movie collected Rs 13 crore in its first week but saw a major drop on eighth day. The movie may have to struggle to touch the Rs 15 crore mark. This Aamir Khan production though not successful in India is well received at the overseas market. The film collected around $950,000 (Rs 4.25 crore) from all the overseas market that includes United Kingdom, North America, UAE and Australia.
Another film that is doing extremely well overseas is Yamla Pagla Deewana. The collection of the movie has nearly touched $2.5 million (Rs 11.25 crore) from all markets. The movie is reportedly doing superb business in Canada which can be compared to the hits like Singh is Kinng, 3 Idiots and Mel Karade Rabba (Punjabi).
Aamir Khan's Dhobi Ghat isn't for everyone: Actor-filmmaker Aamir Khan isn’t one bit surprised with the extreme reactions that his latest project “Dhobi Ghat” has been inviting. While a lot of young crowd can’t find a connect with the film, it is being critically acclaimed in film circles.
"I can see that the film has evoked extreme responses… as I had expected actually. Well, I had tried my best to say that this film is not for everyone,” Aamir posted on his Facebook page Tuesday.
“Dhobi Ghat” is Aamir’s wife Kiran Rao’s directorial debut. With a mix cast comprising Aamir, one-film-old Prateik Babbar and newcomers Monica Dogra and Kriti Malhotra, the movie narrates the story of four individuals with distinct backgrounds. Aamir is overwhelmed with the response of those who have appreciated the movie.
“For those of you who the film has touched so deeply…K (Kiran) and I are so happy. Thank you for your overwhelming response, it has been most rewarding. So happy that the film connected so deeply with some of you. That is how it has been for us too. Thank you,” he added.
Box Office Report: 'Dhobi Ghat' open with mixed response: Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao’s film Dhobi Ghat has opened to a mixed response at the box office. At some centres the film is doing very well; at others the response is lukewarm.
The film has opened particularly well at certain multiplexes in metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. The best response to the film bordered on 80 to 90 percent occupancy in theatres. At worst, the film got a 30 percent response. Moreover, the film picked up at box office in the evening compared to its collections in the morning. Trade pundits feel that film has enough momentum to recover its paltry production cost of Rs. 8 crore (including publicity costs) in the first week itself. Also Wednesday (Republic Day) being a holiday will work to the film’s advantage.
On the other hand, the last week’s release Yamla Pagla Deewana rounded off the first week with a collection of Rs. 35 crore, which is way above those of some big budget productions we’ve seen in the recent past.
Of course, the favourable audience response has prompted the Deols to make the film’s sequel.
Dhobi Ghat Movie Review - Kiran Rao's next film: Dhobi Ghat is a film that will get diverse reactions from the viewers. Some will no doubt snore through it, some will keep shifting in their seats impatiently, and there are still others who’ll be glued to the screen, unable to blink, totally sunk into the layered drama, the melancholy unravelling against the gentle, unnerving thrum of the most unique city in the world.
“Meri hamsafar, meri tawaif, meri jaan.” That’s how Arun (Aamir Khan) describes Mumbai. A reclusive painter with a mercurial temperament, he shifts into a run-down house in Old Mumbai to seek inspiration that he unexpectedly finds in the abandoned video diaries of a newly-wed Muslim woman Yasmeen (Kriti Malhotra), the Mumbai diaries recorded as letters to her brother back home in UP but never sent for reasons that remain obscure until the very end. Shai (Monica Dogra) is a banker from the US, holidaying in Mumbai with her Canon digital still camera with which she hopes to record the daily lives of the aam aadmi - the dhobis, the hawkers, the perfume sellers, the night-watchmen. Munna (Prateik Babbar) is a dhobi with a dream to become an actor and a heart that throbs for Shai.
Among these four distinct characters, writer-director Kiran Rao weaves - warp and weft - a tale of intersecting lives, a tale of unrequited love, of one-night stand and the regret on the morning after, of hopes dashed and inspiration found, of loss and, ultimately, death. Dhobi Ghat is a film that calls for a different sensitivity from the viewer. It’s not just content being another clichéd collage of vignettes of the city’s streets and squalor, though there are many, thanks to the black-and-white snaps by Jyotika Jain. Nah! It leaps beyond that and takes a plunge into the lives of the characters, depicting their anxieties, desires and loss with nearly brutal realism but an empathetic heart.
It’s surely not a film for the suckers of speed - the folks who trip on imaginative shot compositions, slick editing, brisk pace punctuated with quip-heavy dialogues and more such screenplay-savvy gimmickry. Kiran Rao puts the story above all. Simply and quite craftily she unravels it with no sense of urgency or desire to overwhelm the viewer. She takes her sweet time to let the story take roots on the screen, the tempo of the screenplay being just right for a film of this genre. It ambles on for a good hour and then slowly, creepily, explodes in its dying minutes into a denouement that’s sure to give you a lump in the throat.
Performances are simply top-notch, though I felt a bit shortchanged by the Hindi-dubbed dialogues. Kriti Malhotra and Prateik Babbar are the pick of the lot. Kriti’s transformation from a curious newcomer in Mumbai into a dejected, depressed housewife ruing her marriage is unsettling, to say the least. Prateik Babbar’s gauche manners, rawness and his irresolute demeanour bring to life the character of the starry-eyed dhobi but the bashful lover that he plays. Aamir Khan’s performance hinges mainly on his character’s looks and expressions, for Arun is a guy who speaks in monosyllables. Monica Dogra’s affected Hindi accent does grate on you for a bit, but her natural performance, more than her swoon-inducing natural beauty, makes up for it. And then there’s the haunting score by the Argentinean composer Gustavo Santaolalla, giving the film a definitive identity.
Some viewers will doubtlessly whine about the film’s pace. Others will grunt at the repeated regressions into the video diaries of Yasmeen. Agreed, but keep in mind that Dhobi Ghat isn’t a film made with an eye on the box office. It’s not designed to please everyone. It’s a very personal ode, a melancholic one at that, to the city and the souls it houses. It's a film made from the heart, a film that restores a movie buff’s faith in the cinema devoid of any vain opulence or pretension of art.
My advice: watch it if you happen to love cinema and think that there’s more to it than entertainment, thrills, vanity, and ha-ha-he-he.
Salman Khan to teach Aamir Khan for Dhobi Ghat!: To play his character in Dhobi Ghat, Aamir Khan became a shishya of Salman Khan for a few weeks and diligently learnt from him how to create paintings.
It’s no secret that Salman is a terrific painter, even though the star downplays that talent of his. So when Aamir bagged the role of a painter in wife Kiran Rao’s film Dhobi Ghat, he turned to his good friend Salman for help. Being the perfectionist that he is, Aamir wasn’t going to settle for a tacky portrayal of a painter. He wanted to learn the fine points of painting. And Salman more than willingly helped Aamir with that. For a few weeks he was Aamir’s art guru and Aamir his diligent student.
We hear that as guru dakshina, Aamir gave Salman a painting made by him. It’s an abstract painting with imaginative use of colours.
Salman has reportedly loved Aamir’s painting and has hung it in his bar, even though he’s off the bottle nowadays.
Prateik Babbar a Dhobi Ghat boy's love story: In Dhobi Ghat, Prateik plays a laundry boy who befriends a holidaying banker (Monica Dogra), goes out on a movie date with her, but ends up feeling jilted.
Getting into the skin of the character may not have been that difficult for Prateik, for his girlfriend Hanisha Melwani broke up with him after a three-year-long relationship. Prateik’s real love story goes like this: He met Hanisha more than three years ago. Their friendship turned into love and Prateik too was eyeing stardom after having made a noticeable debut in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Things seemed hunky dory until Hanisha began ignoring him.
It was clear that something had given away and Hanisha no longer wanted Prateik in her life. But a possessive Prateik could not let go of her. He encountered her in a restaurant to sort things out, but the meeting took an ugly turn. A heated argument followed. The media was suddenly talking about Prateik on the rebound, chasing his (ex) girlfriend.
To get over the break up, Prateik then immersed himself in work. And slowly and slowly, he overcame his obsession for Hanisha. Today, Prateik says he’s no longer running after Hanisha. Rather, he’s single and enjoying it that way.
Aamir Khan's 'Dhobi Ghat' Movie Preview: The movie stars Aamir Khan, Prateik Babbar, Kriti Malhotra and Monica Dogra in leading roles. Kiran Rao, Aamir Khan’s wife and assistant director of Lagaan, makes her directorial debut with the film that’s been shot in the narrow and crowded alleys of Masjid Bandar area of Mumbai.
The film has already been to some international film festivals and has been described as Kiran Rao’s love letter to Mumbai. Rao herself has admitted that Mumbai is the fifth character in the story. Aamir Khan as Arun
Arun is a recluse. Mostly he stays holed up in his room and paints endlessly. He stumbles upon the video diaries of a woman named Yasmin.
Prateik Babbar as Munna
Munna is a dhobi with the dream of becoming a filmstar someday. He idolizes Salman Khan. His world changes when he meets Shai.
Monica Dogra as Shai
Shai is a banker on a holiday in Mumbai. She wants to preserve her memories of Mumbai in a camera. She gets interested in the local dhobi Munna. Through her lens she also peeps into the life of the reclusive painter Arun.
Kriti Malhotra as Yasmin
She’s a newly married Muslim woman who records her daily life in Mumbai on a video camera to send the tapes to her brother.
Synopsis:
Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai diaries) is the story of four people from very different backgrounds, whose worlds intersect and leave them forever altered. As they find themselves drawn into compelling relationships, the city finds its way into the crevices of their lives, separating them even as it brings them closer...
Fragments of their experience - seen through a naive video diary, black and white photographic images and painting - form a portrait of Mumbai and its people bound together as they journey through longing, loneliness, loss and love.
The film has music by Gustavo Santaolalla and cinematography by Tushar Kanty Ray.
Aamir Khan very excited to do lovemaking scene in 'Dhobi Ghat': The actor Aamir Khan was super-excited to shoot a lovemaking scene in wifey’s movie Dhobi Ghat, but before the star could realize that he is shooting a steamy scene, the sequence was over.
Earlier, Kiran Rao had said that she kept the intimate scene ‘tame’ and was happy with the result. Alas! It seems her husband wasn’t pleased with the direction of the scene. Recently Aamir was quoted as saying, “When I read the script of Dhobi Ghat, I spotted a sequence where I was to do a love making scene. So, I was pretty excited about the same. Finally, when we started filming the said sequence, the lovemaking was over before I could realise it.”
The movie buffs are eagerly waiting for the film which is releasing on January 21. In the film Aamir plays a painter who develops a liking for the woman whom he has seen in video tapes.
Aamir Khan wants to play an 18-year-old in 'Dhobi Ghat': At 45, Aamir Khan is still game for playing an 18-year-old. Well, such was the irresistible charm of the character that his wife Kiran Rao had penned in her directorial debut Dhobi Ghat.
When Aamir heard the script, he was so bowled over by it that he wanted to act in it. And he wanted to play the role of an 18-year-old dhobi. But the role eventually went to Prateik Babbar. “When I heard all the characters, I really liked Prateik's character and wanted to do that. But the character requires someone who looks 18-19 years old. So to prove it to Kiran that I can look that young, I did 3 Idiots. But she still didn't agree. Thankfully she gave me some role in her film,” Aamir said while promoting the film at Andheri.
The media persons were surely surprised to see Aamir at the do because earlier at the unveiling of the first look of the film, his wife Kiran Rao had said that she wants Aamir to stay away from the promotions so that limelight is not taken away from the movie.
“I was never meant to be away from the promotions of the film. I'm very proud of the film and I'm part of it, since I'm the producer and have also acted in it. Even Kiran can't keep me away from it,” Aamir said.
Set to release on January 21, Dhobi Ghat also stars Monica Dogra, Kriti Malhotra, Kitu Gidwani and Nafisa Khan. It tells the story of four characters in downtown Mumbai. Though each comes from a different class of society, their lives are subtly intertwined.
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