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Starring: Kalki Koechlin,
Prashant Prakash, Gulshan Devaiah and Naseeruddin Shah
Direction: Anurag Kashyap
The film was first screened at the Toronto
International Film Festival in September 2010, followed by Venice Film
Festival after it played in several festivals worldwide including South Asian
International Film Festival.
That Girl in Yellow Boots is a thriller tracing Ruth's (Kalki Koechlin), a
British woman who comes to search for her father – who abandoned her family in
England while she was very young. All she knew was his name and doesn’t even
know how he looks.
A British citizen Ruth has to patiently wait for her turn at the foreigners’
registration office in Mumbai. The girl wants an extension of her tourist visa
but what she comes across is greed and corruption.
Director Anurag Kashyap and co-writer Kalki Koechlin
descriptively illustrate this web of exploitative red-tape in the system in
this city where people do not have time and feelings for others.
She struggles to find her independence and space even as she is sucked deeper
into the labyrinthine politics of the city's underbelly. She starts dating a
drug addict Prashant (Prashant Prakash).
A city that feeds on her misery, a love that eludes her and above all, a
devastating truth that she must encounter. And everyone wants a piece of her.
Cast
Kalki Koechlin as Ruth
Naseeruddin Shah as Divakar
Divya Jagdal as Divya
Kumud Mishra as Lynn
Prashant Prakash as Prashant
Gulshan Devaiya as Chittiappa
Pooja Swaroop as Maya
Kartik Krishnan
Mushtaq Khan
Shiv Kumar Subramaniam
Ronit Roy
Makrand Deshpande
Piyush Mishra
Rajat Kapoor
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To stay afloat, Ruth (Kalki
Koechlin) makes a living in Bombay by giving hand jobs
to wrinkled, old customers who come to the shady massage
parlour. She attends to various characters including the
lusty old men and even the young ones who are just
curious about the ‘massage thing’.
Without a work permit, desperation drives her to work at
a massage parlour. Torn between several schisms, Mumbai
becomes the alien but yet strangely familiar backdrop
for Ruth's quest.
It is run by Maya (Puja Sarup), a talkative and carefree
woman. She is good at her job and even gets many repeat
customers, one of whom is an old man (Naseeruddin Shah).
Ruth has a drug-addicted boyfriend, Prashant (Prashant
Prakash), who gets into trouble all the time. He demands
sex from Ruth but she refuses. She regularly pays bribes
to the Indian officials to renew her tourist visa, which
doesn’t allow her to work in India.
There is a general feeling
that Mumbai is the land of dreams, where everything is
pleasant. Not for this girl for whom it remains a fairy
tale.
Kalki Koechlin the protagonist is a girl caught in a
ruthless world. Puja Swarup is impressive as the
effusive massage parlour receptionist who is constantly
on her mobile phone. Gulshan Devaiah is talented, but
Kalki is in the center stage.
It is a different film which has a disturbing finale and
is meant for die-hard fans of Anurag Kashyap.
- Amar Jeet |
