January 26, 2011 : Aamir Khan spent some time on Republic day with the washer-men community in Mumbai. It is likely that promoting his recent movie “Dhobi Ghat” was the motive behind this interaction. The movie won critical acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival. “Dhobi Ghat” is Kiran Rao’s debut directorial venture.
Since it was Republic Day, a dash of nationalism was imparted to the event when Aamir hoisted the Indian National Flag , at the Mahalakshmi Dhobi Ghat, in Mumbai. This move could also be a way of reaching out to the washermen, who earlier had objected to the film, directed by Aamir’s wife, because they found the term, “Dhobi” in the title, to be offensive.
Aamir apologized for hurting their sentiments and was even ready to change the title of the film. Later the Akhil Bharatiya Dhobi Mahasangh let them keep the title intact because they realized that the film was about the place in Mumbai and did not present the community in a bad way, they also did not want Aamir to suffer losses.
The film released in India on the 21st of January 2011. So far, the film has received mixed responses. While many things about the film, like it’s subject, the way it has captured the different moods of Mumbai and so on have been appreciated, some others have felt that the film was too slow and Aamir was uncomfortable in his role.
While some critics saw melancholy and poetry in its subject, some felt that the script was an aimlessly drifting one. The film also starred Smita Patil and Raj Babbar’s son Prateik Babbar, along with Monica Dogra and Kriti Malhotra, all of them have delivered great performances in the movie.
