The movie is about the life and times of a contemporary bar dancer. It’s directed by Madhur Bhandarkar.
Bhandarkar is a Ramgopal Varma protégé. And in Tabu, he has got one of the best actresses of the Indian film industry to portray the role of a struggling bar dancer. Chandni Girl is not a product of a filmmaker's fantasy. Bhandarkar spent a lot of time researching about the subject. Tabu spent hours talking to bar dancers in various Mumbai
sleaze clubs to get the hang of the role she was portraying.
Tabu plays the role of Mumtaz, a Meerut girl who, after a destructive communal riot, which renders her a destitute, comes to Mumbai in search of a livelihood. Her relative in Mumbai is a supplier of girls to bars and so it is not surprising that he has the same vocation planned for this beautiful, innocent girl. So, Mumtaz joins Chandni bar as a dancer. Here, she is raped by a co-worker and worse, she can't raise her voice against him.
Finally, what seems to be good days, come in her life too, albeit briefly. She falls in love with an underworld henchman (Atul Kulkarni) and marries him. The couple is happy with their family life when Kulkarni becomes a victim of intra-gang rivalry. Now, Tabu has the responsibility of bringing up her children as well. To compound her trauma, the members of her husband's erstwhile gang start harassing her. How Mumtaz survives in the face of these adversities forms the heart of the story.
