No desi stuff for us

Actor-producer 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.

Actor-producer Aamir Khan’s next production,

HT Image

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. If that wasn’t enough, Aamir 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 commercial movie.” When asked if they ever thought of making the movie more mass-friendly, 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. Film critic Anupama Chopra says, “

Dhobi Ghat

is not

Kites

, which need subtitles to cater to the masses, it is aimed at niche audiences.” Trade analyst Komal Nahta says, "In India, subtitles don't generally work."

With inputs from Navdeep Kaur Marwah