ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses broader themes and issues of new Indian Indies through a specific close textual analysis of Kiran Rao's Dhobi Ghat in 2010. It examines Dhobi Ghat as a postmodern city film that expresses the local context of Mumbai whilst presenting a global audio-visual aesthetic. The chapter also incorporates the implications of globalisation on India's changing cultural, socio-economic and spatio-temporal constellation. In Dhobi Ghat, Shai agrees to Munna's request on the reciprocal arrangement that she can photograph him at his work place the dhobi ghat. The Mumbai Diaries also falls within the vision of the postmodern city. Whilst Mazierska and Rascarolis erudite analysis in From Moscow to Madrid: European Cities, Postmodern Cinema in 2003 discusses some of the postmodern nuances of European cities, it could be argued that Dhobi Ghat as a city text presents an alternative frame. The postmodern city implicated in an inexorable process of inscription and reinscription is a recurrent theme in Dhobi Ghat.
