Shocking movie! The movie takes you into the world of Mumbai’s bar girls and petty underworld and what it shows you is guaranteed to shock the bejeezes out of you. The story traces the lifespan of one such bargirl (played achingly well by Tabassum) who has to come to Mumbai as a typical innocent teenage girl and falls (or rather is cajoled and pushed) into the business. It shows in a raw manner what a hell-on-earth life these girls have to lead. We usually have a vague idea of the fruitlessness of the lives of such people, but to actually see it play out and that too from the point of view of one such girl breaks your heart.
Top class acting by the main actors and great direction by Madhur Bhandarkar. After watching his impressive Page 3, I decided to seek this movie out and it didn’t disappoint me. The story is well-paced, keeps your engrossed, the lingo is the lowest quality Mumbaiyya dialect and makes everything that much more authentic. And when Tabu is shown to gradually lose her high-class UP Hindi and pick up the gutter language of the bar, you really feel that she’s a true goner. The subject is dark, and in the wrong hands such a film could easily turn into a documentary, but Bhandarkar succeeds in keeping it entertaining while wrenching out your emotions.
I did think Tabu was looking great, but somehow the movie makes me ashamed of saying such things.. Maybe I’m too much under its influence at the moment. It reminded me that womanizing (which people in our society nowadays think of as a good thing thanks to Western entertainment influence) is not a good thing. It demeans not just the woman, but also you and your own self-respect. And the fact that I arrived at that without anyone preaching to me is proof enough of this movie’s greatness.
One thing that bugs me though: I wish Bhandarkar wouldn’t depict crappy sex with kids involved in his movies. It’s unknown/extremely uncommon in our country, and just makes me wonder if he’s just adding it for the sleaze factor. Why bring such disgusting stuff in? And why even introduce such thinking in people’s minds? I don’t think this will do any good for society which is mostly free of such thoughts today.