Delhi 6 - Delhi Personified in a Mirror

Man evolved from monkey, a black monkey evolved from ???. Well that's the gist of this movie Delhi 6. It's a satire look at the people in Delhi 6 for how they act, react, politicize a torturous act of a BLACK MONKEY in their vicinity.

The film starts with a sound over of Amitabh Bachchan portraying the only inherent core of this plot . Roshan, played by Abhishek Bachchan, returns to India to leave his grandmother (Waheeda Rehman). Waheeda Rehman's character is about to die and she wants to live her concluding days in India, being the primary conflict.

Roshan meets various characters in Delhi6 including his love interest Bittu, played by Sonam Kapoor. The characters are well written by Rakyesh, no doubt on that. There's estranged brothers played by Om Puri and Pawan Malhotra, there's Gobar played by Atul Kulkarni, there's untouchable Jalebi, sixty year old Lala married to a teenage girl, a manipulative photographer, a cracko carrying a mirror on the streets of Delhi6, Politicians, Police, News Reporters and many more including the great backdrop of RAM LEELA. The concept of using RAM LEELA to narrate the story has been very creative and successful.

It's about India, Indians looked by an outsider. It's like the way Roshan says India is overcrowded but it is balanced. This balancing force astonishes him every now and then when the other characters react to situations. That is why we see Roshan speaking less and observing more.

Technical aspects are supreme like the camera work, editing, music, direction. This is one of the different plot tried by Rakyesh after Rang De Basanti. The good thing to happen after RDB is that we got a director like Rakyesh. The conflict has been handled cleverly and it was very impressive.

The first half just unfolds the characters and at instances the havoc of Black Monkey. It's the second half the story really gets serious and comes out as a social message, which strikes hard!

The Positives being the flawless performances by Om Puri, Pawan Malhotra, Rishi Kapoor, Vijay Raaz ,Divya Dutta and DELHI. Abhishek Bachchan is good but not great as his character has nothing to contribute much as Delhi itself is the leading character. The music by the genius AR Rahman. Awesome story telling by Rakyesh.

The Negatives being the picturising the song sequences, I was disappointed like anything. Rahman's songs were not given due justice by the visuals. Only the song Dil Gira Dafatan was something I can cheer about; rest were really not upto the mark. Sonam Kapoor was shockingly disappointing. Amitabh Bachchan's presence not utilized properly during climax.

My Rating: 4/5 (Must Watch)

DEV D

RGV (Ram Gopal Varma) said this in an interview for PFC (Passion for Cinema) about DEV D that people would not be interested in to watch Devdas again with a sarcastic smile. These words from RGV were running in my mind while I entered the cinema hall to watch DEV D.

The start credits gratified sincere thanks to Danny Boyle. I recalled the interview of Anurag Kashyap (Director of DevD) when he consulted with Danny about the type of camera to be used to shoot underwater sequences of Abhay Deol. Danny suggested him to use the camera which he used for Slumdog Millionaire. I am not able to remember the camera version but it is said to be latest HD camera in recent times. The result was very striking to be honest.

The film started and as expected the film is very different, as Anurag Kashyap is known to make films which means to him lot personally. The film started with a bang with few very unusual scenes between Paro and Dev. That set up the mood of this very raw, unpredictable yet known plot. The plot of Devdas has been used several times in Indian cinema but this one stands out because it shows the raw meaning of love i.e. LUST. Lust is one emotion which controls your life in a positive or in a disastrous way. Moreover the film is said to be made in contemporary format which makes the film different from others, but I felt that emotion of LUST remains the same irrespective of their times.

The way Paro sends her nude clip to Dev in England. Dev after seeing the clip (completely charged up) calls Paro and in excitement says that he is coming India soon! This is what makes Dev D very unique in it’s storytelling aspects as well as the spontaneity that keeps you wondering every now and then. The prostitute or commercial sex worker character Chanda has been portrayed in a very unique way, very independent, very practical, very calm yet she has a past which keeps her in a loop of pain. All these characters are handled in a multi layered way in the form of chapters.

Acting wise the character played by Paro stands out easily. What a find! Mahie Gill being very beautiful has played the role with extreme rawness. The scene where she looses her control when her father discusses a marriage proposal with her! Simply amazing. Abhay Deol has done justice to his role. I cannot commit that this is Abhay’s best performance. The character has been played very naturally yet I believe it lacked the punch! Even the character played by Chanda (Kalki Koechlin) is good but not great when I compare with the one played by Mahie Gill.

The music by Amit Trivedi is praiseworthy. As he is looked onto the one who can give music in comparison with AR Rahman. But honestly the first question aroused in my mind whether 18 songs were really needed for this movie. Secondly as there were many songs in the movie, I personally lost the connect with every other song which would be way ahead in the composition. Nevertheless the music wasn’t an emosional athyachaar!

Talking about Anurag, he cleverly unfolds all the recent real life scandals of Delhi into the plot like DPS MMS, BMW case to move the story ahead. Also the camera work is exceptionally brilliant. Hats off! Anurag is the one who has brought a new dimension in Indian movies, no doubt. Really Inspired! Apart from a slow second half and a hasty climax, the movie looks very fresh and a must see.

Coming back to the RGV interview, RGV was right that no one would want to see the Devdas again. You will have to dare to watch this movie and accept the fact that Love has its own equations which is equated by LUST and JEALOUS rather CARE and TRUST.

My Rating : 4/5