Delhi-6
It so often goes that once you raise your standards in things you do, you tend to cater to higher expectations in all future endeavors. This is one plain fact, that Rakyesh Om Prakash Mehra should have kept in mind while he made Delhi-6. After creating a trend-setting, movie like Rang De Basanti, his new movie fails to hold the viewers' interest.
But this doesn't take away from the fact that just like Rang De Basanti, this one movie too is socially relevant and carries a message. As the title suggests, Delhi-6 is the pincode of Chandni Chowk, its most crowded, but the most beautiful and varied of places and the film gives a fabulous glimpse of this eternal old delhi market place. The Jelebis, the pigeons, the kite flying, festivals, and monuments are all there both traditionally and modern and we feel, little has changed from the old times. Into this hot-spot comes Abhishek Bachchan who is an NRI with his ailing grandmother who wishes to die in her own place. It doesnt take much time for Abishek to loose his heart to this gorgeous place that he has come into. It is the characters and the harmony of the place that attracts him.
The movies depicts the myriad citizens the Delhi-6 has particularly Hindus and Muslims, living in perfect harmony in an otherwise locality which is pre-dominantly Muslim due to its Mughal Heritage. both the communities co-exist inspite of many differences and the movie is quite contemporary in showing that it doesnt take a large issue to divide people. Mehra uses the 'Kaala Bandar' incident, which happend in Delhi a few years ago. The movie is about how the presence of a 'Kaala bandar' divides the people and how such a trivial issue go on to become a bigger one of 'mandir-masjid'. The film shows us how easy it is to divide people, and when we see it, compare it with the happenings around us of vote bank politics and hate speeches, we feel, the movie is quite relevant and contemporary.
Mehra uses the 'Kaala Bandar' as a metaphor to the 'darker side' that we all have in ourselves. The Kaala bandar is our shadow side which we never identify whith, and which only we can get rid of. Mehra's idea of placing the incidents and characters here, side by side with those of a 'Ramleela' staged in the area (which actually is neof the most famous Ramleela that happens in Delhi in the Ramleela maidan) is spot on and is refreshing.
But again, on the other side, such a presence of some of the best people in business and you crave for more and here the movie disappoints a little. You sit expecting a kind of 'viewer-hijack' that one could feel in Rang De Basanti. It's onlywhen you are well into halfway of the movie that you realise that the moment is not going to come, and one is left hoping for a nice scene or a song. This is where he fails to capture the attention of the viewer for much of the time.
I would here applaud the casting director (so important these days, with 'Slumdog Millionaire', where in Loveleen Tandon was elavated to the status of Co-director from Casting Director by Danny Boyle), whose character selection of Om Puri and Pawan Malhotra (the warring brothers in the neighborhood), Aditi Rao (the elder sister of Sonam), Divya Dutta (The untouchable for all, but still the boys in the area wants her to teach them Driving), Atul Kulkarni (the dumbo, who gets his moment of realisation in the end) and last by not the least, Waheeda Rehman (as the ailing grandmother) is spot on. It would be true to say that after films like Dil Chahta Hei, or Rang De Basanti or Rock On, Bollywood has discovered the nuances of 'Method-Acting' these days and this movie is ample proof of the same. Also, one has to applaud the efforts of AR Rehman in creating two of the most hummable songs in recent times ... the 'Masaakali matarkali... " and "...Sasural Ghenda Phool..." Both the songs are national anthems nowadays and the popularity can be seen from the statistics which say that both the songs are somehow the most favoured songs for 'Caller Tunes' and 'Ring Tones'. AR Rehman truly lives up to his image of an Oscar Winner in this, which sadly, he never did with his 'Slumdog Millionaire'. 'Jai Ho' AR Rehman!
All in all, Delhi-6 is a good movie, it is a must watch clean movie with a message rather a social message, but still, having carried the weight and expectations of Rang De Basanti, Rakesh Omprakash Mehra disappoints here inspite of the touching poetic flow and the characters.
Stand-out Scene : The scene where the young girl Sonam Kapoor who is clad in Salwar Kameez all through the movie, change into western dress in a public toilet and aspire to become an 'Indian Idol'. May be the director wanted to show women's emancipation or how we indians inspite of all the 21st century train ride, are still orthodox when it comes to family and social settings.
Avoidable Scenes : The scene where a 'would-be-dead' Abhishek Bachchan converses with his late great gradfather (in the movie) in heavan, Amitabh Bachchan. This was purely nonsense, as it just felt like an attempt to bring Amitabh into the credit rolls.
Director : Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra
Starring : Abishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Om Puri, Pawan Malhotra, Deepak Dobriyal, Aditi Rao, Waheeda Rehman, Atul Kulkarni and Divya Dutta
Music and Lyrics : AR Rehman and Prasoon Joshi
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