Nitya, is a little boy who runs away from a temple, in a bid to avoid a tonsure, as his parents offer his hair in atonement. That is the long-story-short, one line 'abstract' (forgive the pun here) of a short story by RKN, titled... {pause}... 'Nitya'.
The movie was not too different. There was no start to it and neither was there an end. It was just pure and simple, move on. The matter of fact, nonchalant handling came through quite nicely. Humour had been weaved in every so lightly, like a pinch of salt here or there in an otherwise strong melange of emotions or sometimes, the absolute lack of it. A seamless blend, smooth, short and sweet I must say. Simply put, it seemed like a collage of colours, hues and moods. Just like Arun's dabs in the movie.
Prateik Babbar can be labelled as a find. Monica Dogra is quite refreshing. And Aamir? Since I cant pick the apt superlative, he is just as usual - as it has come to be a habit of his in recent times. Yasmin, the character, and the girl who played the role, were quite pleasing.
The camera angles, the handi-cam feel, the close-ups, the portrait shots (yes, I mean it, there were portraits in video!) were all so eye catchy. One couldn't help thinking that perhaps the movie was meant to be a series of photographs strung together to narrate a story that was never to be in the first place. The stillness in the shots were fittingly accompanied by long moments of soulful silence. And then the strings of the guitar would pleasantly make their presence felt.
A few of the shots, just by themselves, told a story. Like the one in the taxi with the fish on one side and the cat on the other side. Sums up the context in which the scene is placed. I shall leave it to you to interpret it though :)
So here I am, straight from the ghat... Dhobi-Ghat that is - a title as abstract as the movie is. And with a review, as open ended as I wanted it to be.
