Chameli (2003)

What makes it different from others?

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Better Late Then Never

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Sometimes even strangers can understand your pain better than your own family or friends. As they say, everything happens for a reason. As cheesy as this quote is, it proves to be true (especially in movies). One night. Rain. Two strangers. What's next?First, performances. Rahul Bose completely bowled me over as the heartbroken Aman Kapoor, who blames himself for the death of his wife. He is humble and caring, and has sympathy for the people that are forced into prostitution and money-laundering. I wish he received the appreciation he deserves. But I really need to watch more of his movies!Kareena Kapoor as the vibrant Chameli is heartwarming, though her dialogue delivery seems slightly robotic and rushed at times. She has her own philosophy on her "filthy world" and this was probably one of her strongest performances. The relationship that Aman and Chameli share is unusual yet understanding; the two strangers seem to be interested in each other's worlds and pasts. There's no intimacy, only conversations. No grand promises or gestures, only talking and helping. And that's what makes this movie so special. It stays close to reality, although one would wonder how such heavy rain lasts for so many hours (haha). The music is soothing, "Sajna ve Sajna" and "Bhaage re Mann" are classics. Although the movie is short, the pace slows down dreadfully in the second half, as happens with most Bollywood films. Nevertheless, the proceedings kept my attention for the (almost) 2 hour runtime, as I kept wondering "How is this all going to end?"And the end of the movie was perfect. It brought a smile to my face. An underrated movie, please go watch it if you haven't already!

Chameli is a delightful experience. It's about two people - a recently widowed businessman and a carefree street prostitute who meet on one rainy night when she is stuck with no clients and he is stuck as his car refuses to move. He is heartbroken and sad and she is cynical and vulgar. Yet, their interaction unveils so many life experiences, secrets and truths that they learn to know each other much more than expected and gradually get exposed and opened to each other. Their relationship develops so beautifully that it's like a story during several days or months. This concept is exceptional. The film is interesting and flows very well despite a somewhat slow pacing. I found the film artfully intriguing and very well narrated. The film belongs to Kareena Kapoor, who finally gave her first noteworthy performance. She does look a bit caricaturish in some scenes, but overall she is very convincing, charming and touching as a prostitute who is more of a prankster who somehow enjoys life and does not take it too seriously. Rahul Bose turns in a very fine and believable portrayal. The music is beautiful, the cinematography is effective, and the film is generally realistic and very entertaining. People who like artistic films will certainly enjoy this one. It is an impressive and fairly awakening piece.

Some actors,tend to grow on you, even though you had dislikes because of the initial type-casting. The case in point-Kareena Kapoor. It is easy to dismiss her as a mediocre or run-of-the-mill Bollywood actress that made it to fame because of family name,connections or whatever; but when she gets under the skin of the character,you slowly change your opinion and keep an open mind about the capacity of an actor to emote-albeit she is not in the same class as a Rehman, Rani or a Dixit. Circumstances, bring together this couple, who seem to be woven from different societal fabric, but the commonality of caring and sharing weaves an heartwarming story, that reveals shamelessly, lot of the ugliness; that is the underworld that the very society, tries to sweep under the rug. Rahul Bose, is never a disappointment and he shows that he can play a character better than any of the current crop of actors, who seem to have a chip on their shoulders and they overact to cover their inferiority complex-as a matter of fact I think he would have been perfect to play the leading part in "Kal Ho Na Ho", but the status quo, that makes Bollywood the Boringwood, we are forced to watch the same overacting idiot (ugly and menacing) in every other movie. In Chameli-the flame of love keeps burning, even it was a lit by a "whore"

I actually rented this film because of Rahul Bose. He is quite the actor and has done rather well for himself in the "Art Cinema" genre of Bollywood with film's such as, Mr. & Mrs. Iyer; Everybody Says I'm Fine to name a few. But I was mildly surprised with Kareena Kapoor's acting capabilities. I always pictured her as the scantly clad, self-absorbed and bitchy "poo" from the film "Kabhie Kushe Kabhie Gham" (A movie I unfortunately sat through....my solace...I only saw it half-way) and thought of her as another shallow 20something actress. She fits the role like a glove and the film is cinematically appealing to the palate as well. Shot in the monsoon drenched locales of Bombay with catchy songs (Bhaage Re Man, Sajna Ve and the female rendition of Jaane being my favourites) reminded me of good times spent in Bombay.The tale begins with a snippet into Aman Kapoor's (played by Rahul Bose) life. He is a 30something financial analyst of sorts at one of Bombay's Banks (or something along those lines). A party is being thrown for him as he has successfully completed some sort of merger. Aman is prosperous, he charges around RS. 10,000 per hour for a private consultation, but is not the partying sort. So he ends up leaving the bash and drives around Bombay until his car stalls at Fountain in the red-light district (notoriously known to be a place frequented by whoremongers and is a place where whores and their pimps reside). As it's a stormy night, business is dull. This is where we are introduced to Chameli, a whore played by Kareena.Our protagonist Aman and Chameli get involved in conversation. What is the result of this association? I shall let the readers watch and find out.The film is presented as a narrative with Rahul Bose being the storyteller. As I stated before the film is delightful as it give us (it certainly did me) insight in to the reality of the shanty & shady areas of Bombay, but in a more subtle way when compared to movies such as Chandani Bar or Market. This film is the meeting of two very different yet distinct methods of filmmaking in India...the commercial (sing, sing...dance, dance...trees...snowy mountains) and the Art House (movies that touch socio-political issues and raise questions/arguments). A meeting that I thoroughly enjoyed.Now I rarely watch Indian films, as most of them turn out to be a waste of three hours, but I highly recommend this film to viewers. I give it an 8.5/10.