Movie Review
(Posted on: February 20, 2009)
Soaked in typical flavour of Delhi, this is a movie of the people and for the people. After Rang De Basanti, Rakesh Mehra, tried to portray a good-at heart movie through Delhi 6, but the movie serves you an array of other items on your platter. Obsession for religion, false beliefs, strong conviction for things not seen and the easygoing life of the people are all put in one basket. With the incident of Monkey Man as the backdrop, Delhi 6 scripts a story of the society and the people, who are blind followers of their deep-rooted ideas.
Roshan (Abhishek Bachchan), the stylish NRI dude from the US fly down to Delhi to take her daadi (Waheeda Rehman) back to her home in Delhi 6. In the first few scenes, you journey through the shoddy and narrow lanes of Chandni Chowk which have strange liveliness in them. Prudent camera work in the movie gives you a deep insight into the very pulse of Delhi 6 with the aerial view of Jama Masjid and the side shots of narrow alleys with shops on both sides fitting the sequences.
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Abhishek moulded himself well with the milieu, as you find him shaking hands with a nanny-goat and stealing a hot jalebi from the shop. As he continued to flow with this harmonious madness, he becomes more involved with even the little eccentricities of this cosmopolitan locality. He seemed to gradually fall in love with this divine chaos and the bilayati handsome soon realized what it takes to grow in one’s homeland. Abhishek needs to work hard with comic sequences, although he did fairly well in times of crisis.
Masakali, the beautiful white pigeon, is a sure show stealer with her pure white beauty. The song 'Masakali' is a perfect tribute to this bird. Bittu (Sonam Kapoor), the sweet Delhi kudi, longs to fly free like the pigeon and hug a life of liberty. Lyrics of masakali say it all. Her ardent desire to get noticed in Indian Idol and indomitable will to prove her worth in the world of glamour gets a hard beating with her father (Om Puri) forcing her to taste the marital fruit. Abhishek comes to her rescue as expected, but he was treated as an intruder. This is when the love story starts to mature between the two.
Like Rang De Basanti, director Rakeysh Mehra zoomed in at the social issues pestering our society time and again. This time it is the Monkey Man incident of Delhi, which is chosen as the backdrop of this dark comedy. The blatant satires as well as subtle humours will not go unappreciated, provided you find them out. As you travel with the movie, you experience load shedding, fun loving people, ram leela shows, accommodating people and laid back environment, where fun is not a distant neighbour.
Delhi 6 points out how simple issues get politicized in our country and people indulge in the savage blame game, without justifying their actions. Abhishek Bachchan, who has a dormant rebel within, puts up a valiant effort to teach, people how they unknowingly create macabre situation just because of their low tolerance level. With a strong political message, Delhi 6 is an archetypal creation of Mehra. The love story of Bittu and Roshan did not get much space to prosper as communal tension took the driving seat. The fighting sequences could have been cut short to make the movie more aesthetic. Even the ending could have been more appealing with something more from Big B.
Credit goes to the lyricists Prasoon Joshi, Vivinenne Pocha and Claire for their sensitive lines which all have a contemporary appeal. Rahman’s creative music composition added another feather to the crown. There has been quite a bit of brand advertising with Abhishek flaunting his high-end Motorola phone while taking snaps of his masakali (read as Bittu) in front of the Taj Mahal. Indian Idol hopefully got the expected publicity through this movie.
In spite of all the differences and tensions, Delhi remains the city of dilwalon, who have small houses and big hearts, narrow beliefs and broad smiles. This movie is certainly a journey within, except you feel it to be a prolonged one.
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