Chameli

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.

This movie was one of the best Indian films I have seen! I loved it. Such a well written film, and so sensitively portrayed. The acting was superb. I adore Rahul Bohse, he is always a delight to watch. I agree with another comment on this page, that he would have been ideal for the role in Kal Ho Na Ho, actually he would be ideal for many roles that I've seen being handed over to lesser actor's for their commercial appeal. He is a delight to watch no matter what character he plays. I first noticed him when he played Sunny in "Thakshak". He managed to upstage Ajay Devgan, who in my opinion is one of the best actor's in Bollywood. He proved he could do comedy too, with his role in Jhankar Beats.

As for Kareena Kapoor, she was a pleasant surprise. I knew that she could act,but since she was always being "type-cast", she couldn't do much with her roles. I think she bought a touching sensitivity to the character. The fact that it was Kareena Kapoor acting as Chameli somehow made her plight even more poignant, because we know what she is like as a "carefree" character, and this is a direct contrast from that. This adds to the pathos in my opinion. There was a lot of depth in her performance. Well done Kareena!As for story, it attempts to realistically portray the lives of people in the red light districts, and especially those of women and their plight. The two protagonists are both in pain. They are both going through different types of pain in their lives, and for a moment they stop to share their plight with one another. It's the kind of encounter everyone dreams of. It's a very romantic meeting, albeit in a very unromantic setting. At heart, this movie is about finding love in the most unlikely places, and how a women who has lost faith in men has it restored by a kind and handsome stranger who wanted to help her without wanting anything back. This movie makes you believe that chivalry is not dead after all!

What worked:

• the movie is a linear narrative happened at one rainy night, and also cyclic as it brings back the layers of incidents from the past. It's a bold movie and it's a daring job for Kareena to take this role, maybe one of her rarest performances.

What did not work:

• I am not sure what's wrong with the movie. It's a well written, acted and directed movie. However for some reason, the movie fails to get the solid punch that this movie should and could have given. Maybe it's the pulse that's off track or it's the repetitive narrative that's been seen before. There is no denying it's a good movie but the overall impact for me is average.

Final verdict: recommended, at least for role portrayed by Kareena

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"

This movie is definitely a breakthrough in Bollywood cinema in terms of the story and the approach to telling it. The entire movie takes place in just one night. It is interesting to see how a family values, extremely wealthy man spends a night with a prostitute. Beginning with his prejudice, he slowly grows to accept, protect, and, one can even say, love her. It took an entire movie summed up in an extremely brief "climax" to perfectly convince and portray the theme that 'It doesn't matter what the backgrounds, gender, etc. are; there should just be love.'