Mumtaz marries a Bombay-based male and moves into his tiny apartment. She finds that he is unable to obtain employment, so she undertakes to find employment herself and run their household. With no skills and qualifications, the only job the Mumtaz is offered is to be a dance-girl in "Chandni Bar", which she reluctantly accepts. Her husband takes off with another woman, and a gangster named Potiya Sawant takes an interest in Mumtaz and marries her. She lives together with him for several years, and gives birth to a son, Abhay, and daughter, Payal. She wants Abhay and Payal to be educated, and stay far away from her world of dancing girls, and Potiya's gangsters. Then Potiya gets in the bad books of other gangsters, loses his connections, becomes a target for the police and is killed in an "encounter", leaving Mumtaz to return back to dancing at the Chandni Bar. Years pass by, Abhay and Payal are now in their teens and attending school, Chandni still works at Chandni Bar, not as a dancer, but as a waitress. Then the unexpected happens - Abhay is arrested by the police for extortion and held in a Juvenile home. Chandni attempts to talk to the police, to no avail. She then meets with some influential people, who agree to help her out for a price, which she must bring to them in less than two days. Chandni hustles and sells her body to obtain the money, but is still short. Then Payal takes up dancing at the bar, and brings the rest of the money to her troubled mother. With the money turned over to release Abhay, the family heave a sigh of relief - until Mumtaz notices that it is not the same Abhay she had known two days earlier - this one is cold, ruthless, and has only purpose in life - vengeance - for something shameful that happened to him in the children's home. Look's like Payal is going in her mother's footsteps, and Abhay is all set to be another Potiya.
Chandni Bar Preview
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.
Movie Review : The Chandni Bar Review (1/10) Written and directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, “Chandni Bar” is a film about the life of a contemporary bar dancer whose self respect ...
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