Critic Reviews

• Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

  The sex/class conflicts are way too twee.

• Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

  An odd amalgam of soap opera and street-level realism, with, alas, the former trumping the latter.

• Lou Lumenick, New York Post

  [A] satisfying, well-acted drama.

• Rachel Saltz, New York Times

  Ms. Rao does have an ace up her sleeve, though: Prateik, who in his first lead role gives a nuanced, career-making performance.

• Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

  With its key settings in a crowded, largely decrepit, congested yet beguiling, picturesque older portion of this city of 14 million inhabitants, the film is like a rich tapestry in which are interwoven the intersecting lives of three people.

• Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle

  Rao avoids high drama, and while there is humor, the film's tone is one of melancholy.

• Jay Antani, Cinema Writer

  a refreshing, well-meaning entry in India's new brand of globally savvy cinema, [which] augurs exciting things from [director] Rao and her peers

• Simon Foster, sbs.com.au

  Captured with the assuredness of a true auteur's vision and defying all known conventions of commercial Indian filmmaking, Dhobi Ghat will be a revelation to those that think sub-Continental cinema is just all song-and-dance.

• David Noh, Film Journal International

  What is undoubtedly a sincere attempt to present the contrasting lives in a roiling city unfortunately seems more of a facile vanity project for the principals involved.

• Nora Lee Mandel, Film-Forward.com

  Romance and regret woven in four strands of India's striving Muslims are slight against Mumbai's striking sights, but have poignant realism (especially Prateik's portrayal).

• Tim Cogshell, Boxoffice Magazine

  This is a wholly accessible story that most filmgoers will find pithy and generally well done.

• Gregory Weinkauf, Huffington Post

  Sleek, subtle, sensual, a very human time-capsule of now.

• Michelle Orange, Movieline

  Rao's ultimate achievements are undercut by the arrangement of her characters into narrative castes that cross paths but can't quite connect.

• Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

  An enthralling movie set in Bombay about the dreams and desires of four very different people.

• , Total Film

  Emotive and evocative, it's helped by Gustavo Santaolalla's (Babel) outstanding score.

• Mike Goodridge, Screen International

  A reflective portrait of contemporary Mumbai largely devoid of cliché or overt exoticism, the multiple storyline film presents its characters with a subtlety never seen in traditional Bollywood fare.

• Andrew Schenker, Slant Magazine

  That Kiran Rao doesn't adequately interrogate her own relationship to her subjects means that Mumbai Diaries can't quite match its own ambitions

Read all 17 critic reviews