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)
I do not agree with your views on DELHI 6. After watching this tedious fare, I was actually disappointed to the core. I never expected Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra, who gave us a scintillating AKS & a revolutionary RANG DE BASANTI to go wrong this badly! I agree that the whole concept of the message was good, but the way it was conveyed is so silly & foolish, that you tend to laugh at it! Its like feeding you with the message, rather than showing you the message. I would give this movie, at the best an Average rating; May be less than that.
ReplyDeleteJust my individual views though! ;-)