That Girl in Yellow Boots
Encyclopedia
That Girl in Yellow Boots is a 2011 India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n thriller film by director Anurag Kashyap
Anurag Kashyap (director)
Anurag Singh Kashyap is an Indian film director and screenwriter. As a director, he is known for Black Friday , a controversial and award-winning Hindi film about the 1993 Bombay bombings, followed by No Smoking , Dev D and Gulaal...

, starring Kalki Koechlin
Kalki Koechlin
Kalki Koechlin is an Indian film actress of French descent who debuted in Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed 2009 Hindi film Dev.D...

 and Naseeruddin Shah
Naseeruddin Shah
Naseeruddin Shah is an Indian / Bollywood film actor and director. He is considered to be one of the finest actors of Indian cinema. In 2003, the Government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan for his contributions towards Indian cinema.-Early life:...

. The film was first screened at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...

 in September 2010, followed by Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

 after it played in several festivals worldwide including South Asian International Film Festival. Its commercial release however took place only a year later in September 2011, both in India as well as U.S.

Plot

That Girl in Yellow Boots is a thriller tracing Ruth's (Kalki Koechlin
Kalki Koechlin
Kalki Koechlin is an Indian film actress of French descent who debuted in Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed 2009 Hindi film Dev.D...

), a British woman who comes to search for her father - a man she hardly knew but cannot forget. Without a work permit
Work permit
Work permit is a generic term for a legal authorization which allows a person to take employment.It is most often used in reference to instances where a person is given permission to work in a country where one does not hold citizenship, but is also used in reference to minors, who in some...

, desperation drives her to work at a massage parlour. Torn between several schisms, Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

 becomes the alien but yet strangely familiar backdrop for Ruth's quest. She struggles to find her independence and space even as she is sucked deeper into the labyrinthine politics of the city's underbelly. She starts dating a drug addict Prashant (Prashant Prakash). A city that feeds on her misery, a love that eludes her and above all, a devastating truth that she must encounter. And everyone wants a piece of her. After numerous encounters with people, almost all of whom are depicted as needing to be serviced by her, she discovers that her father is one amongst her regular clients, who knew all along that she was his daughter. In what is possibly seen as a commentary on the cult of godmen in India, her father is shown as one such member of a religious cult, and views having sex with his daughter as an expression of his love. The film ends with Ruth hanging up her yellow boots, her quest having come to a shocking end.

Cast

  • Kalki Koechlin
    Kalki Koechlin
    Kalki Koechlin is an Indian film actress of French descent who debuted in Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed 2009 Hindi film Dev.D...

     as Ruth
  • Naseeruddin Shah
    Naseeruddin Shah
    Naseeruddin Shah is an Indian / Bollywood film actor and director. He is considered to be one of the finest actors of Indian cinema. In 2003, the Government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan for his contributions towards Indian cinema.-Early life:...

     as Diwakar
  • Ronit Roy
    Ronit Roy
    Ronit Roy is an Indian television and Bollywood actor, known for the roles of Dharamraj Mahiyavanshi, Rishabh Bajaj, Mihir Virani and Aparajit Deb. He is now in the serial Adaalat as KD Pathak. Roy has been referred to as the Amitabh Bachchan of small screen...

     (Cameo)
  • Makrand Deshpande
    Makrand Deshpande
    Makarand Deshpande is an Indian actor, writer, and director in Hindi and Marathi films and theatre. He is often seen in supporting and pivotal roles in various films like Jungle, Sarfarosh, Swades, Makdee, and Darna Zaroori Hai where he often plays drunkard, wayfarer roles. He has directed over 5...

     (Cameo)
  • Piyush Mishra
    Piyush Mishra
    Piyush Mishra is an Indian film and theatre actor, music director, lyricist, singer, scriptwriter.-Early life and education:He spent his early life in Gwalior, where he received his education...

  • Shiv Kumar Subramaniam
    Shiv Kumar Subramaniam
    Shiv Kumar Subramaniam is an Indian actor & screenwriter who is known for his role as the leading industrial tycoon I. M. Virani in the famous Indian television serial Mukti Bandhan that goes on air in the Colours channel...

  • Rajat Kapoor
    Rajat Kapoor
    Rajat Kapoor is an Indian actor, writer and director born in 1961.Kapoor was born in Delhi, India. As a teenager he would watch films with his family and decided to become a filmmaker at the age of 14. He mainly focused on acting at first...

     (Cameo)
  • Divya Jagdal as Divya
  • Kumud Mishra as Lynn
  • Prashant Prakash as Prashant
  • Gulshan Devaiya as Chittiappa
  • Kartik Krishnan
  • Mushtaq Khan
  • Pooja Swaroop as Maya

Development

Lead actress Kalki Koechlin
Kalki Koechlin
Kalki Koechlin is an Indian film actress of French descent who debuted in Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed 2009 Hindi film Dev.D...

 who also co-wrote the film with Anurag Kashyap mentioned, "A lot of these characters were based loosely on figures that I had seen growing up in India,".. "Growing up as a white-skinned woman in India, I was always the odd one out -- there was a certain alienation that came with that, and you end up alienating yourself because everyone comes to you like the white girl, the easy, "Baywatch," loose-moraled white girl."

Anurag Kashyap asked Kalki to write the first scene, to get a female perspective on the treatment of white women at Indian government offices as she personally experienced the objectification. He also wanted to explore the theme of child abuse, he had previously played the role of child abuser in I Am (2010) by Onir
Onir
Onir is an Indian film director, editor, writer and producer. He is best known for his film My Brother... Nikhil, one of the first mainstream Hindi films to deal with AIDS and same-sex relationships.-Life and career:...

, and he himself had been a victim of child abuse for 11 years. At the writing stage Kalki and Anurag disagreed on the ending initially, as Kalki wanted an optimistic ending, unlike Anurag who wanted to portray that "..you don't always get solutions to your problems,"

The film had difficulty finding funding because it dealt with controversial themes like child abuse and drug addiction and "differed so vastly from his previous work" as Anurag put it, "I wanted to break the formula that many directors and actors find themselves in."

Filming

The film was shot in just 13 days. It was primarily framed in tight spaces, like apartments, massage parlors, and rickshaws leading to a sense of claustrophobia and unease through the film. Many of the cast members that previously worked together in theatre productions, this familiarity allowed the director to shoot the film a shorter period of time. He admitted that he never "directed" any of the actors during the filming, "I've never told any actor what to do, only what not to do. You have to trust your actors, and I know mine inside and out." Director Anurag Kashyap found the entire filming emotionally draining and tough, especially because it was made mostly on borrowed money.

Release

After travelling to 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
2010 Toronto International Film Festival
The 35th annual Toronto International Film Festival, was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 9 and September 19, 2010. The opening night gala presented Score: A Hockey Musical, a Canadian comedy-drama musical film. Last Night closed the festival on September 19.2010 TIFF included...

, 67th Venice International Film Festival
67th Venice International Film Festival
The 67th annual Venice Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, took place from September 1 to September 11, 2010. American film director and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino was head of the Jury. John Woo was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement prior to the start of the Festival...

 in September 2010 and International Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA), at its New York premiere on August 24, 2011, at the Asia Society
Asia Society
The Asia Society is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States and around the world Hong Kong, Manila, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, and Melbourne...

, director Anuraag Kashyap said, "I hope you feel the film, because you will not enjoy it." Film's commercial however took over an year as it was delayed to coincide with its US release to avoid internet piracy. Indian distributors weren't keen on the film, as without big Bollywood stars they didn't find it viable for an international release, as they mainly cater to NRI (Non-resident Indian) audience. Finally US based- Indie Pix came on board for paving way for US release with 30 prints, all in non-NRI theatres, a rare feat for a Bollywood film. Meanwhile the film was also sold in Scandinavian countries, Turkey, Southern Europe, New Zealand besides its satellite rights were sold in many countries. The film thus became Kashyap's first worldwide release, as it will hit in 40 US theatres on September 2 by IndiePix Films, on the same day of its India release. Previously, after its showing at the London Indian Film Festival
London Indian Film Festival
The London Indian Film Festival is a film festival established in 2010 to showcase Indian independent film. The festival attracted media attention in its first year, premiering films such as "Love Sex aur Dhokha" by Dibakar Banerjee...

, Britain-based Mara Pictures picked up the film there for UK release in last quarter of 2011.

Marketing

Prior to its India release the first look of the film was unveiled to the press on August 11, 2011.
MTV India
MTV India
MTV India is the Indian version of MTV , a channel specialising in music and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 and is now part of the Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd based in Mumbai. . "MTV India" is one of the oldest Music Television Networks in Asia...

 started a "That Girl with Yellow Boots contest" asking for audition tapes from aspiring actors, the winner of which would act in future Anurag Kashyap's films. In the run up to the film, its lead Kalki appeared at an event, colour-coordinated, complete with yellow boots.

Critical reception

In his Huffington Post review, Kia Makarechi wrote, "an unnervingly realistic portrait of unimaginable pain -- is one with an ending you'll wish you could forget." Nupur Barua of fullhyd.com rated it 7 out of 10, and said that besides the Kashyap-esque tone of despair and melancholy, That Girl In Yellow Boots is Anurag Kashyap's best till date, adding that you can watch it "only if you can handle the unspeakable". Parmita Borah, on EF News International, wrote, "Kalki Koechlin carries That Girl in Yellow Boots on her shoulders and does so with great panache and élan." Shivesh Kumar of IndiaWeekly awarded the movie 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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