Delhi 6

Delhi 6, also can be called as A Tribute to Kaala Bandar….a movie which shows the havoc of kaala Bandar, a monkeyman and this havoc can ignite hindu-muslim riot. Although Rakyesh Mehra attempted to make it look much more message conveying like Rang de Basanti, but at the end it proves to be a bit confusing and throwing public off the scent.

But still, these shortcomings don’t let u down, because of the novel and well woven nexus of sequences and characters in the story. In first half, the movie totally revolves around the brightest part of the chocked, dingy yet invigorating gullies of delhi, the sweeping rickshaws, jalebi ki dukan, which is run by a muslim who is devotee of allah as well as bajrangbali and a place where harmony exists between 2 different communities.

Delhi 6 starts with the arrival of a USA born and brought up NRI Roshan Mehra (Abhishek Bachchan) with his ill Dadi (Waheeda Rehman) who wants to spend her rest of the life back home, in the surrounding of her own people. Roshan acquaintance with India started with the news floating in the air whispering the name of ‘’the Kaala Bandar’’, a mysterious monkeyman that attacks and kills people in the dark of night. His initial phases and reaction of grins on this media stunts are accompanied further by surprises which dwindles him away from staying there. His encounters with some indigestible rituals , some freaking rules and some strange people, exemplified by traffic jam over a ‘’Gau Maata’’ giving birth to Bachda, a party leader who pops up and talks the hind leg off a donkey in Ramleela show, jalebi sessions at roadside, imrati (divya dutta ) being considered untouchable , a ruthless cop (vijay raj), who has penchant for smacking, the opportunistic Lala ( Prem Chopra ) with one foot in grave, but feels esteemed for having much more younger bride leaves him ponder. But in course of time, destiny defines a way for his love towards Bittu (Sonam Kapoor), a daughter of a whimsical and conservative person, who dreams about emerging as next Indian idol. In 2nd half of the story he juggles with problems, which pushed him in chaotic situation and faux pas.

The effort of installing metamorphic use of Ramleela to synchronize with the story is an excellent effort done by Mehra. There’s an excellent shot of an imagination in ‘Dil Gira Dafatan’ song, depicting overlay of two different worlds of Delhi 6 and New York at Times Square. But his idea of frivolous terror sparkling communal hatred and prolonged and preachy climax make you feel leave your seat once in a while.

Overall, direction is fine with some sequences, ornamentally crafted and intertwined. Cinematography by Binod Pradhan is superb and A R Rahman again opens up his music box with glittering gems. The troop of good actors who starts appearing in the beginning one by one could put the good gloss over the tattered part of this 3 hrs movie. But too much hodge-podge and lengthy dialogues at the end pulls it down. Abhishek Bachchan looks casual at some places but delivers good facial expressions and reactions, although in few scenes he seems to overact. Sonam Kapoor is mesmerizing but she needs to grow up more as far as acting is concerned. Divya Dutta as imarti proves herself with her outstanding performance. Other supporting cast, Om Puri, Rishi Kapoor, Pawan Malhotra, Vijay Raaz, Waheeda Rahman (an image of grace), Supriya Pathak, Deepak Dobriyal, Prem Chopra, Atul Kulkarni is soul and main asset of this movie.

Despite of few flaws, it’s a movie to be watched. Good entertainment with some flavors of emotions and diversity of topics

Rating: 60/100

By Shilpee Singh for VirtualChai.com on Feb 25th, 2009

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