User reviews

Chameli is a delightful experience. It's about two people - a recently widowed businessman and a carefree street prostitute who meet on one rainy night when she is stuck with no clients and he is stuck as his car refuses to move. He is heartbroken and sad and she is cynical and vulgar. Yet, their interaction unveils so many life experiences, secrets and truths that they learn to know each other much more than expected and gradually get exposed and opened to each other. Their relationship develops so beautifully that it's like a story during several days or months. This concept is exceptional. The film is interesting and flows very well despite a somewhat slow pacing. I found the film artfully intriguing and very well narrated. The film belongs to Kareena Kapoor, who finally gave her first noteworthy performance. She does look a bit caricaturish in some scenes, but overall she is very convincing, charming and touching as a prostitute who is more of a prankster who somehow enjoys life and does not take it too seriously. Rahul Bose turns in a very fine and believable portrayal. The music is beautiful, the cinematography is effective, and the film is generally realistic and very entertaining. People who like artistic films will certainly enjoy this one. It is an impressive and fairly awakening piece.

What worked:

• the movie is a linear narrative happened at one rainy night, and also cyclic as it brings back the layers of incidents from the past. It's a bold movie and it's a daring job for Kareena to take this role, maybe one of her rarest performances.

What did not work:

• I am not sure what's wrong with the movie. It's a well written, acted and directed movie. However for some reason, the movie fails to get the solid punch that this movie should and could have given. Maybe it's the pulse that's off track or it's the repetitive narrative that's been seen before. There is no denying it's a good movie but the overall impact for me is average.

Final verdict: recommended, at least for role portrayed by Kareena

Chameli, a movie based on a prostitute and an investment banker, is about a night that puts them under same roof accidentally. Fueled by Aman's no interest in going back to his empty house and Chameli's good heart, their journey continues till the morning. Chameli is a lady who tries to stay happy despite her muddy profession. The best part of the story is no out of sky feelings bumping in the main characters as assumed from a usual Bollywood drama. A simple friendship that makes the two abrasive without any predilection following from friendship and practically possible sacrifices forms the core of the movie.

I have seen this movie recently. And it seems to me that it is really different movie from typical bollywood films.

The script & direction of this movie is really brilliant and worth of praising. Rahul bosh as Aman Kapoor & bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor as Chameli played their roles successfully. Especially I recommend Kareena Kapoor for her wonderful acting in this movie as a prostitute named 'Chameli'.

I recommend this movie to watch who likes different type of films. I rate this movie 10/10. The movie is really excellent.

This movie is definitely a breakthrough in Bollywood cinema in terms of the story and the approach to telling it. The entire movie takes place in just one night. It is interesting to see how a family values, extremely wealthy man spends a night with a prostitute. Beginning with his prejudice, he slowly grows to accept, protect, and, one can even say, love her. It took an entire movie summed up in an extremely brief "climax" to perfectly convince and portray the theme that 'It doesn't matter what the backgrounds, gender, etc. are; there should just be love.'

Some actors,tend to grow on you, even though you had dislikes because of the initial type-casting. The case in point-Kareena Kapoor. It is easy to dismiss her as a mediocre or run-of-the-mill Bollywood actress that made it to fame because of family name,connections or whatever; but when she gets under the skin of the character,you slowly change your opinion and keep an open mind about the capacity of an actor to emote-albeit she is not in the same class as a Rehman, Rani or a Dixit. Circumstances, bring together this couple, who seem to be woven from different societal fabric, but the commonality of caring and sharing weaves an heartwarming story, that reveals shamelessly, lot of the ugliness; that is the underworld that the very society, tries to sweep under the rug. Rahul Bose, is never a disappointment and he shows that he can play a character better than any of the current crop of actors, who seem to have a chip on their shoulders and they overact to cover their inferiority complex-as a matter of fact I think he would have been perfect to play the leading part in "Kal Ho Na Ho", but the status quo, that makes Bollywood the Boringwood, we are forced to watch the same overacting idiot (ugly and menacing) in every other movie. In Chameli-the flame of love keeps burning, even it was a lit by a "whore"

i think this is the best low budget movie i have seen for a long time. The story is very simple but the director has presented it in a very refreshing manner. The acting is good. Rahul Bose is excellent as usual. Kareena surprisingly has given a good performance. All the supporting actors are also good. I don't know why the directors in India don't make more such movies. I think there should be a quality board for Hindi cinema which monitors the quality of movies. Movies like "Ab Bas" should not be allowed. I think bollywood should try to find a right mix between movies like Devdas and Chameli. And perhaps make movies like "LAGAAN" in every 5 years.

My Rating : 6/10

It's about two people who meet on a rainy night. One a carefree prostitute and the other a sad businessman.

Kareena Kapoor and Rahul Bose give great honest performances and the film works off their chemistry with each other and their differing backgrounds and viewpoint of life.

Touching story, a different kind of love but love it is...

I actually rented this film because of Rahul Bose. He is quite the actor and has done rather well for himself in the "Art Cinema" genre of Bollywood with film's such as, Mr. & Mrs. Iyer; Everybody Says I'm Fine to name a few.

But I was mildly surprised with Kareena Kapoor's acting capabilities. I always pictured her as the scantly clad, self-absorbed and bitchy "poo" from the film "Kabhie Kushe Kabhie Gham" (A movie I unfortunately sat through....my solace...I only saw it half-way) and thought of her as another shallow 20something actress. She fits the role like a glove and the film is cinematically appealing to the palate as well. Shot in the monsoon drenched locales of Bombay with catchy songs (Bhaage Re Man, Sajna Ve and the female rendition of Jaane being my favourites) reminded me of good times spent in Bombay.

The tale begins with a snippet into Aman Kapoor's (played by Rahul Bose) life. He is a 30something financial analyst of sorts at one of Bombay's Banks (or something along those lines). A party is being thrown for him as he has successfully completed some sort of merger. Aman is prosperous, he charges around RS. 10,000 per hour for a private consultation, but is not the partying sort. So he ends up leaving the bash and drives around Bombay until his car stalls at Fountain in the red-light district (notoriously known to be a place frequented by whoremongers and is a place where whores and their pimps reside). As it's a stormy night, business is dull. This is where we are introduced to Chameli, a whore played by Kareena.

Our protagonist Aman and Chameli get involved in conversation. What is the result of this association? I shall let the readers watch and find out.

The film is presented as a narrative with Rahul Bose being the storyteller. As I stated before the film is delightful as it give us (it certainly did me) insight in to the reality of the shanty & shady areas of Bombay, but in a more subtle way when compared to movies such as Chandani Bar or Market. This film is the meeting of two very different yet distinct methods of filmmaking in India...the commercial (sing, sing...dance, dance...trees...snowy mountains) and the Art House (movies that touch socio-political issues and raise questions/arguments). A meeting that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Now I rarely watch Indian films, as most of them turn out to be a waste of three hours, but I highly recommend this film to viewers. I give it an 8.5/10.

Movie is good execution is good implementation is good all the characters acting is very good picturization is very good but somewhere I am not able to understand the story of movie story sometime weaker and we cannot connect to the movie Sudhir Mishra direction is very good and appressable I don't not know the first director how much he directed the movie all fine you can watch it once songs are really good.

I recently saw this movie and it actually turned out a pretty OK for a film.The first half of this movie was pretty boring but the second half turned out to be pretty good.This movie mostly tells about the story of a prostitute and knowing about the life of a prostitute was interesting and riveting.I also liked the interactions between Aman and Chameli and the relationship between them which was deep and subtle.I also like the realistic setting of this movie.The music was excellent with songs like Sajna Ve Sajna and Bhage Re Mann.Rahul Boses acting was simply brilliant.But the show stealer has to be Kareena who has given a simply flawless act as Chameli she got every thing of the character right be it the mannerisms,accent,look of the character.This movie is worth a watch for this who appreciates very realistic movies and it wont appeal to those who likes the masala movies

Aman (Rahul Bose) an investment banker has lost his wife and is emotionally adrift. One very rainy night his car breaks down and he gets stranded in the Mumbai Red light district with no working cell phone. He runs into a structure for shelter and there encounters Chameli (Kareena Kapoor), the loud (looks and talk), smoking and smoky voiced street walker. Chameli offers herself to him (he does not want it), tells him three variations of her life story (all made up), as pimps, goons, street children, corrupt cops, transvestites walk in and out of the scene. Then things start to turn ugly and Aman gets embroiled in the mess of Chameli's life out of chivalry for one he sees as a helpless woman. But who is helpless and who is chivalrous is not immediately clear as Chameli shows many unusual facets to her personality. In the end she is able to break down Aman's self created barriers in his own personal life so he can cauterize his past wounds and move on.

The movie is brilliantly acted by Kareena Kapoor - those who doubt her acting ability need to see this one. She is equally good as the kind hearted woman, the childlike playful one, the seductress. And she is stunning in looks. Rahul Bose is very good as Aman, he is by turns sad, full of disgust, then wonder, then amazement at Chameli. There is not much else to the cast of characters, but the minor players all perform up to expectations. The music is quite well integrated (except for the opening song) and beautiful. The cinematography is brilliant and the direction by Sudhir Mishra very good.

This is an unusual and fine film, a little idealistic, but in the end you leave feeling the uplifting moments and not the sordid ones.

This movie tackles a different subject -- prostitution -- and all the associated ills such as drug abuse, violence, etc. taboo in traditional Indian society. It does so however, only at a superficial level. None of the characters come across as real-life. The set seems to have been recycled again and again, not that it made any difference.

Maybe they had a very low budget (someone can verify this). Production is of poor quality, the pace extremely slow, and character buildup is inadequate. In my view, this could have been done better with a highly experienced captain at the helm.

None of the performances are top-notch. Rahul Bose disappoints. Kareena is OK. Not much supporting cast to write about.

This movie was one of the best Indian films I have seen! I loved it. Such a well written film, and so sensitively portrayed. The acting was superb. I adore Rahul Bohse, he is always a delight to watch. I agree with another comment on this page, that he would have been ideal for the role in Kal Ho Na Ho, actually he would be ideal for many roles that I've seen being handed over to lesser actor's for their commercial appeal. He is a delight to watch no matter what character he plays. I first noticed him when he played Sunny in "Thakshak". He managed to upstage Ajay Devgan, who in my opinion is one of the best actor's in Bollywood. He proved he could do comedy too, with his role in Jhankar Beats.

As for Kareena Kapoor, she was a pleasant surprise. I knew that she could act,but since she was always being "type-cast", she couldn't do much with her roles. I think she bought a touching sensitivity to the character. The fact that it was Kareena Kapoor acting as Chameli somehow made her plight even more poignant, because we know what she is like as a "carefree" character, and this is a direct contrast from that. This adds to the pathos in my opinion. There was a lot of depth in her performance. Well done Kareena!As for story, it attempts to realistically portray the lives of people in the red light districts, and especially those of women and their plight. The two protagonists are both in pain. They are both going through different types of pain in their lives, and for a moment they stop to share their plight with one another. It's the kind of encounter everyone dreams of. It's a very romantic meeting, albeit in a very unromantic setting. At heart, this movie is about finding love in the most unlikely places, and how a women who has lost faith in men has it restored by a kind and handsome stranger who wanted to help her without wanting anything back. This movie makes you believe that chivalry is not dead after all!

'Chameli' is a movie about a prostitute and a banker. Aman (Rahul Bose) and Chameli (Kareena Kapoor) happen to spend the night under the same roof after Aman's car breaks down and Chameli tries to hide from a potential customer who has AIDS. In the course of the night, they come close to each other and share each other's woes. And after that, this movie tells about what happens to them and how they come to terms with their situation. All of the events happen in the course of one night.

'Chameli' is a bad movie made worse by the treatment. There's not even a story in this film just character development. The director just introduces two characters to us and lets them talk throughout the movie. It gets horribly boring at a point.

Kareena Kapoor tries hard to play the role of a sex worker. And she thinks she can pull it off by overacting. But mind you Ms. Kapoor, it doesn't always work. Rahul Bose is mundane and appears lost in front of the camera. The rest of the cast don't do much since the film is just about the two characters.

The music in the movie is quite pleasing though. 'Bhaage re mann bhaage' and 'Saajna ve saajna' are the best tracks in the movie.

Overall, a disappointing fare from Sudhir Mishra who gave us the brilliant 'Is Raat Ki Subaah Nahin' before. Avoid!

Cult, Art, Underrated or use any word used for a good movie and it'll fit in. (Except masterpiece) But definitely one of the Bollywood movies you should watch before you die.

Brilliant. I'm actually short of words to describe it. Just watch it straightaway.

Getting into technicalities, the script suberb. Direction could be not as fantastic, but worked well that you cannot nitpick. Acting is neither as fantastic, but all worked with a good story.

A grossly over rated movie with real awful acting from Kareena and big disappointment from Rahul Bose. The narration tries too hard to drive the script, where as the screen play withers away in the first 15 mins of the movie.

The director should definitely give more thoughts as to how to progress a story and make it more realistic, and pace the movie better.

Story seems awfully made for family audience, a prostitute and wealthy man combination.. hard to imagine not a single scene depicts any depth to the character or story. Another annoying part is the director deals with issue like homosexual attraction ( the guy and the enuch),AIDS etc in very light passing shades of grey and trys to depict the streets of mumbai in an extremely clean slate.

Common folks who are we kidding?? Over all 3/10

Subhakam

Movie for a different kind of audience. Either you love it or you hate it.

An eye opener film. Very underrated and ahead of it's time. Prostitutes should never be put down by the society because they are selling their bodies because of poverty and money or either they are forced to do so. Wonderful film. Beautiful shown life and emotions of a prostitute. Phenomenal acting by Kareena. She did full justice to her role that to in her initial days of her career. Rahul Bose was also good.

Chameli the story of an ordinary yet extra ordinary red light area girl I loved the storyline , depiction , simplicity the depth Every one has their own share of baggage some show some don't Like Amman here but life is like that only as said by the artists The "good" in society is scarce but if seen it transforms n inspires u This movie is one such u can't help but like the prostitute for her attitude on life How 1 night can change everything ..... Beautiful and very realistic I love the songs even After 10 years they make u nostalgic them I felt bebo is a good actress after watching this movie only If u like love stories with twist then this is the best deal