Movie Review: That Girl in Yellow Boots

Director: Anurag Kashyap

Starring: Kalki Koechlin, Naseeruddin Shah, Gulshan Devaiya

burrp! says: ***1/2

A firang girl in an unknown city (Mumbai) searching for her dad – a man she hardly knew but cannot forget. Aptly named That Girl in Yellow Boots, it is the journey of Ruth (Kalki Koechlin), an illegal immigrant, who’s stuck between giving “happy endings” to her massage clients, finding love with her druggie boyfriend and running between Osho Ashram in Pune to police stations in Versova and post offices in the city, looking for some evidence of her father.

It is about Ruth’s quest to finding, perhaps, the biggest truth of her life. Amidst this, she meets Naseeruddin Shah, a caring client, unaware of the other pleasures that Ruth offers, visiting her purely to get massages to cater to his physical ailment. But she also has to tackle a shady visa agent who hopes to get a quick hand-job in return for a visa extension, and Chitiappa (Gulshan Devaiya), who demands a quick sex-fix that can be set off against the debt that her boyfriend Prashant (Prashant Prakash) has to settle.

Along the way, she learns the tricks of the trade, learning enough spoken Hindi (read: abuses) to get her through the irascible government official, passing on ‘donations’ to them regularly. As you keep thriving on assumptions, watching Ruth’s story unfold, her moment of truth will leave you pondering and troubled, much after the film is over. Kashyap has also interestingly played some mind-games in the screenplay to tease the viewer’s imagination. Bravo!

The duration of the movie is short and snappy with a tight screenplay and won’t allow you a moment’s distraction. The narrative is personal, self-indulgent and wanders like Ruth’s life, but still keeps you curious about how the story will unfold. The locations are realistic with crooked massage parlous and dingy homes.

TGIYB is clearly the product of the avant garde film-making that Kashyap indulges in. Kalki is refreshingly good and displays better acting skills than her last release. Her ‘Julia-Roberts-meets-Bugs-Bunny’ persona presents a different and natural skill of syncing with the character, something she has probably grown to learn. Kudos also to Kashyap to bring it out in her, something that he did with Abhay Deol in DevD. Depicting the truth in the climax and reacting to it in the way Kalki does, is one strikingly interesting scene. Though not in a major significant role, both Naseeruddin, undoubtedly, and Gulshan distinctly stand out in the story.

It is strange though why Kashyap hasn’t marketed the movie better, keeping it restricted to a niche audience. While it would be surprising to see this film run into even half-packed houses, we hope that Kashyap’s fan-following will eventually spread the word and get more people to watch this movie.