The Girl In Yellow Boots

Movie Review

By Surya Tej Borra

Starring: Kalki Koechlin, Naseeruddin Shah
Banner: Anurag Kashyap Films, National Film Division Corporation
Producer, Director: Anurag Kashyap
Written by: Anurag Kashyap, Kalki Koechlin
Rating: 3.5/5

Contemporary Indian Cinema is nurturing a lot of offbeat filmmakers and screenwriters and undoubtedly Anurag Kashyap would feature on the top of the list. After critically acclaimed flicks like Black Friday, Dev D, Gulaal and Udaan he wielded the megaphone for an out and out art movie which tells a tale of twisted relationships. The Girl in Yellow Boots is a story of life and happenings of Ruth(Kalki Koechlin) who comes to India in search of her long lost father whom she hardly remembers . She works in a massage parlor without a work permit. In her life are some strange characters that include a drug addict boyfriend who is obsessed about having sex with her all the time and a witty old man (Naseeruddin Shah) who cares about her. Before the theatrical release, this film was screened at various International flicks like Toronto Festival and Venice Film Festival garnering a lot of praise. Like all other Anurag Kashyap’s flicks it comes with a decent amount of originality and blatancy. Kalki Koechlin who plays the lead  is growing from strength to strength .She leaves a thumping impression on you and delivers yet another career defining performance in a role tailor made for her. A special mention to debutant Gulshan Devaiya who plays Chittiapa in this film who featured in the comedy sequences of this flick with his “Indianish” English. 

This film is a hardcore depiction of the modern India and the stereotypical Indian mentalities. The entire story runs in Mumbai and is a gritty depiction of life in the city. There sequences which aim to expose the deep rooted corruption in government offices and ill-mannered behavior of the general public towards foreigners. The most interesting aspect of this film is engaging screenplay which keeps you involved throughout. The winning moments of this flick are the last 20 minutes where Kalki comes to know about her father and depicts diverse emotions which lead the film to a disturbing end. Believe me ! The film haunts you even though it does not belong to the horror genre. My favorite scene in this film is the scene where Ruth narrates a story to Chittiappa and he runs out of the parlor wailing and shouting. The film does not depict vulgarity but tells you the naked truth about the relationships. It takes a lot of divergent thinking to make a dark flick like this which gets darker as it progresses. Overall it is an engaging watch but only for those who consider films to be, above all else, works of art.