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.

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"

My Rating : 6/10

It's about two people who meet on a rainy night. One a carefree prostitute and the other a sad businessman.

Kareena Kapoor and Rahul Bose give great honest performances and the film works off their chemistry with each other and their differing backgrounds and viewpoint of life.

Touching story, a different kind of love but love it is...

I recently saw this movie and it actually turned out a pretty OK for a film.The first half of this movie was pretty boring but the second half turned out to be pretty good.This movie mostly tells about the story of a prostitute and knowing about the life of a prostitute was interesting and riveting.I also liked the interactions between Aman and Chameli and the relationship between them which was deep and subtle.I also like the realistic setting of this movie.The music was excellent with songs like Sajna Ve Sajna and Bhage Re Mann.Rahul Boses acting was simply brilliant.But the show stealer has to be Kareena who has given a simply flawless act as Chameli she got every thing of the character right be it the mannerisms,accent,look of the character.This movie is worth a watch for this who appreciates very realistic movies and it wont appeal to those who likes the masala movies

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