चमेली
Bollywood turns its eye on the gritty Bombay underworld in this story of a night in the life of a prostitute named Chameli (Kareena Kapoor). Strait-laced businessman Aman (Rahul Bose) finds himself stranded in the rain one night, and seeks shelter in the arcade where Chameli ordinarily does her business. In the course of the night he meets her friends and her enemies, helps her hide from a customer she believes has AIDS, and then tries to buy off her angry pimp when he comes looking for her. In the process he has his eyes rudely opened to a side of his city he had never before acknowledged.
What saves Chameli from the realm of cheesy melodrama is a subtle and measured performance by Rahul Bose, who was so excellent that after I saw the film put him on my list of actors to look for. The first half of the film is especially good; it has a stage-play feel, as Aman and Chameli circle one another in the arcade and other characters enter and leave the scene. Without much but their dialog to hold the audience, the actors are very exposed, and Rarhul Bose handles the exposure deftly enough that Kareena's less subtle touch is easily forgiven. The second half of the film flags a bit as Rahul and Chameli around among the city's unsavory characters, but over all it is still worth a watch.
(Chameli is available for download from Jaman.)