That Girl in Yellow Boots

With "That Girl in Yellow Boots", Anurag Kashyap moves into what is known as the International art-house circuit. Films here are generally about weird out of place characters stuck in emotional turmoil. Generally sexuality or the abuse of it is the undercurrent theme of most of these films. Most characters are depraved and yet seemingly deep. Most importantly most of it is about people who you will never meet or never know in real life. The situations and locations in the films will be so out of place that you will trouble identifying with almost all of them. These films are bold and more often than not for the sake of being bold.

"That Girl in Yellow Boots" is all of the above. Shot extensively well it tells a poignant story of an English girl Ruth (Kalki Koechlin) who is illegally in India. She is searching for her father who left her and her mother a long time ago. To sustain herself and pay the bribes to the authorities she works in a massage parlor where she also earns a quick thou on every hand job she does. To add to this dreary existence is a cocaine addicted boyfriend (an unknown Prashant Prakash) and a Kannada gangster (a brilliant Gulshan Devaiya last seen in Shaitan) looking to get his money back.

Many other world weary characters come and go. Like the annoyingly loquacious massage receptionist who keeps flirting on the phone (a superb Pooja Swarup), an old fatherly figure (Naseeruddin Shah) who only comes to the parlor for a good clean massage and a slimy inspector who keeps turning up and demanding money (for what reasons we are never told).

Amidst all of this the film becomes a list of interlaced seemingly disconnected scenes of either Ruth massaging (read pleasuring) someone or searching for her father by finding his namesake who has the same occupation as her father.

The film pretty much has a solid Kalki in every frame. She lights up at every opportunity that brings her nearer to her father and at the same time makes you realize her frustration as someone who is constantly meeting expectations of strangers. It is a wonderfully dark role and Kalki's silence at most times speaks volumes.

Anurag Kashyap as usual frames each shot with much care but one can't help but wonder that he seems to have blurred the line between shocking us through realistic characters in extraordinary situations and shocking us for the sake of shocking.

So in the end you might end up questioning why such unnecessarily outrageous, vulgar and sexually charged up tones are present in almost all representations in this grim mystery. Why is it that the boyfriend is such an extreme figure trying to rehabilitate himself by chaining himself to a window? Why is the gangster called Chitiappa, so that the C word can be repeated again and again? and not to mention the art decor house that Ruth lives in which seems overtly engulfed with decay. Or for that matter the shocking ending which folks would have seen coming half way through the movie (though not the identity of the person in question) I guess Anurag constantly is trying to break the barrier of how politically incorrect he can get with his movies and if the price to pay is a storyline or disconnected characters, then so be it. What he does not realize is that audience will only remember this for the shock value and not some artistic vision that the International Art-house Circuit often enjoys.

But to his credit, there is one thing that the film does prove that Anurag Kashyap can handle complex emotional subjects with amazing control and not create something that could have easily slipped into a depressing and ugly snooze fest. In the end, TGIYB would be remembered as one of the also made for a director who would eventually be counted as one of the all time greats for Indian Cinema.

Final Recommendation That Girl in Yellow Boots is worth a watch but to film freaks who like to be shocked and are looking for the discerning stuff esp. for fans of Gaspar Noe and Lars Von Trier. For other enthusiastic fans of the multiplex movies (read Shaitan, Dev D etc. ) this may not be the shoe they want to try on. Fans of commercial fare like Wanted and Dabangg might as well stay miles away from this lest they get nightmares.

One of the key protagonists of New Age Indian Cinema,Anurag Kashyap returns with his another unusual film with a strange title THAT GIRL IN YELLOW BOOTS, which has already won critical acclaim in many film festivals abroad. As per his reputation of a daringly different film- maker, Anurag gives you exactly what was expected from him, a path breaking, bold and disturbing, realistic film which mainly calls for a strictly adult viewing.

With his own stylish shot taking techniques and sequences, this time Anurag goes into the filthy world of a local massage parlor of Mumbai, where you are offered pleasure services, a little more than just a massage. In clear words, here is something which you have never seen before in an Indian mainstream movie ever. And to be precise you can easily call it 'A Soft Porn' too served in the name of New Age Indian Cinema to the audience, minus the visual depiction of the term.

Here I really don't mean that it's a bad film. THAT GIRL IN YELLOW BOOTS is undoubtedly, a perfect example of a powerful controversial cinema which takes into the dark real world of oral sex, drug addiction and child abuse. It is a journey of a girl who is in search of both her own self and her lost father, who she thinks, is the only person in the world still loving her.

The film starts off sarcastically, revealing the silly work ethics of a government office dealing with foreigners in a real stupid manner and then it moves into a different world of drugs, sex and love all of a sudden. The director even takes you into Pune's OSHO Commune with the girl enquiring about her father, who has written a letter to her recently from there and he also shows a glimpse of OSHO's discourse running on a TVin one of the film's sequences. However the director's purpose of using this reference remains unclear and confusing. Keeping in mind the funny remarks made by his characters over the copyright issue of the commune, it looks like Anurag wanted to highlight the deteriorating state of the movement, fast heading towards an un-required commercialization.

Anyway, returning to the film, overall it just remains a fine out of the box attempt for me, which sadly never makes a rock solid impact on the viewer even with its shockingly disgusting climax. In fact if you are an avid lover of the world cinema, then the chances are that you might guess the climax much before it comes in front of you on the screen.

Moreover, it becomes repetitive in the mid and also doesn't give you the main story idea of the writer very clearly. The script basically starts emphasizing on the girl's search for her father after almost one hour and until then the director keeps on showing the related sequences about her good clients, her drug addict boy friend, a south gangster and the girl sitting at the massage parlor's reception talking endlessly on her phone. And the sad part is that most of these characters remain half baked on the screen, unlike a Anurag Kashyap film.

Besides there are many known friends of Anurag doing their very short cameos in the film just as a courtesy, such as Piyush Mishra, Rajat Kapoor, Makrand Deshpande and Ronit Roy, which doesn't really serve any purpose.

In terms of technical production, it is a superb project and in terms of performances its a winning stroke from Kalki Koechlin as the confused girl. But I didn't find the film connecting with the audience at an emotional level. At the most, it simply can be called a never before kind of Indian Film with some highly sexual gestures, taking away the actual limelight from the film itself and its main theme. It no doubt stuns you in its final moments but you don't walk out of the hall highly impressed. The film actually lacks the conflicting drama, which the subject really demanded and therefore in the end it remains a rather bold but less satisfying project from Anurag Kashyap….unexpectedly. Further, co-written by Kalki and Anurag together, TGIYB seems to be more a Kalki's film than a Anurag Kashyap's brainchild. She is wonderful as The Girl in Yellow Boots, but how many times she will go on repeating herself in such psycho kind of roles, that's my question to the girl? Prashant Prakash as her boy-friend is naturally impressive and Gulshan Devaiya shows off his inner talent, even in an under-written role of a disturbed don.

On the whole, with TGIYB, Anurag certainly takes the wave of New Age Indian Cinema a few steps ahead, but still I cannot rate the film as one of his best efforts till date in any case. However, if you only consider the boldness in its open sexual content, then it surely is a path- breaking attempt by the off-beat director in Indian Cinema, unarguably.

Summing up, I want to end this review raising a few questions in front of all film-makers following this trend of experimental, new age cinema, which came to my mind while watching THAT GIRL IN YELLOW BOOTS…….. "Does a new age movie or an experimental film, always supposed to be written around Sex and Perverts? "Do we always need to make such movies around Unusual Sex, Child Abuse, Lesbians, Eunuchs and Gay characters?" and "Is New Age Cinema only dependent and concerned about such repeated subjects only?"

Just give it a thought?

I consider myself a big fan of Anurag Kashyap and think Gulaal to be one of the best movies made in Bollywood. In that perspective, I think this movie doesn't live up to expectations and is quite avoidable.

The movie does well in taking you through the Mumbai underbelly from the eyes of an illegal foreign immigrant and inspires images from Shantaram. However, the story is too loose. If it was intended to be a mystery/ thriller, it doesn't have enough pace and coherence. It just keeps jumping back and forth b/w Kalki giving customers hand shakes and randomly following leads to locate her father.

The best sequence in the movie is Kalki narrating her father's death to the gangster when he comes for a massage. The revelation at the end of the movie is shocking and disgusting but there is no build up to it which would make it sort of an inevitable end. It comes as if it's there in order to shock you rather than being the purpose of the story all along. The extremely unconvincing and weak performance of Kalki's father is the weakest link in the movie.

The subject and the first 40-50 minutes are promising and this movie could have been much more. The last 20-25 minutes are a dampener, if you don't give too much thought to the shock/ disgust aspect of the end.

To conclude - Just about an average, "art" movie that might appeal to you because of its "boldness" and being out of line with "societal norms". But very average story line, acting and direction.

I started watching this movie just to pass my time. I hadn't read any review or had any expectations.

The film brings out the true state of the existing conditions in India. Of many of which I myself have seen in real life. Though many people claim that it is not so bad.

The storyline is very genuine and believable and you soon get caught up in the twists.

The main character Ruth is very convincing. It is very difficult to predict what will happen next in the story.

I loved the female who manned the massage desk. Her telephone conversations were so entertaining and true to life.

The ending was totally unexpected. I had tears in my eyes.

Anurag Kashyap ("Water") delivers another stunningly controversial masterpiece with "That Girl In Yellow Boots". True to form as one of India's leading modern indie filmmakers, this film will bedazzle and shock you. Kashyap takes us on a colourful and dangerous journey through the underbelly of Bombay experienced through the eyes of Ruth (Kalki Koechlin).

Kalki Koechlin (winner, best supporting actress Filmfare, "Dev. D") co wrote this sizzling script with Kashyap. Every character is remarkably fleshed out from Ruth herself to the thugs running drug rackets and the girls and their clients in the massage parlour. The growing reality of the size of the sex trade in India inspired Kashyap to conceive of this story and to collaborate with Koechlin on the script. ..