‘Forty per cent of the dialogue is in English’

Admits Dhobi Ghat director Kiran Rao, says she has no plans to dub film or use subtitles. Actor-filmmaker Aamir Khan has already warned his audience that Dhobi Ghat is an “art film”.

Aamir Khan’s next production, Dhobi Ghat, that marks wife Kiran Rao’s debut as a director, has no songs. And 40 per cent of the film’s dialogue is in English.

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If that wasn’t enough, the actor-filmmaker himself has already warned his audience that Dhobi Ghat is an "art film". Defending her husband’s statement, Rao says that he did so because he didn’t want people to come in expecting another Ghajini (2008) or 3 Idiots (2009).

"Even though Aamir is acting in Dhobi Ghat, it’s not a popular commercial movie," she asserts, adding that it doesn’t have a plot-driven storyline or a simple narrative. "It’s a slice-of-life movie during the course of which, characters meet, change each other’s lives and move on."

When asked if they ever thought of making the dialogue more Hindi friendly to increase the film’s appeal, Rao insisted that it wasn’t possible. "Instead of helping it would have adversely impacted the movie. The English lines flow naturally, so we don’t want to dub them or run subtitles that people don’t like reading anyway," she reasons.

The first look of the film was unveiled last Wednesday. It was Rao’s first solo public appearance, minus her star husband. She even admitted that all this while she had been known as a star wife. “This is the right time to introduce myself as the writer-director of Dhobi Ghat,” she points out.

“Aamir agreed with me that it’s time people got to know me as an individual rather than Mrs Aamir Khan.”