Rang De Basanti was easily my favorite film of that year and there wasno way in Hell that I was going to miss the next venture of Rakesh Omprakash Mehra,
So since the time the first promos came out of Sonam dancing to A R Rehman’s melodious ‘Masakali’ in the terrace with a white dove, I was waiting for the movie. And when Sourabh my friend, who works with Big Cinemas called up to inform me about thePreview show on Thursday.
I grabbed on to the ticket and saw the movie. And honestly I wasn’t disappointed, infact I was thoroughly entertained.Let me tell you something upfront, Delhi 6 is not Rang De Basanti… but the best part is that its not trying to be a RDB also, it’s a movie about characters more than anything else, it’s a movie about a place as the title suggest suitably
‘I’m anh Americhan’ says Roshan(Abhishek) with a faint but distinct American accent to Uncle Baig(Rishi kapoor) when he asks him what he plans to do next! ‘l’ill go back, that’s where mah life is uncle’ continues Roshan, the story of Delhi 6 revolves around why Roshan just can’t get himself to do this very thing that he tells his Baig uncle.
Abhishek comes to India to drop his Grandmother who wants to breath her last in her very own Dilli, He is welcomed in India not only by grand welcome and a taste of the very famous Dilli hospitality by all the relatives, neighbors, friends but also by the news of a certain ‘Black Monkey’ know to steal and harass people in the vicinity of Delhi.
Roshan;s character is firstly intrigued by all this, and finds all of this funny, Don;’t miss the ram lella scene where the show is stopped just because there is a politician has entered the arena, slowly starts liking the uniqueness, the love, the warmth of the people in Chandini Chowk, especially one Miss Bittu, who is leading a dual life One of a A simple chudidar clad homely girl and the other of an aspiring Indian Idol contestant.
Admits growing curiosity and concern of the Dreaded Kala Bandar, The random rounds of Ram Lella and Day to Day affairs of the residents of the Chowk Rakesh Mehra constructs and develops each character with effortless ease, A special mention about the character of the corrupt, highly opinionated, egoistic cop which offcourse is played flawlessly by Vijay Raaz, Check out his first scene with Abhishek.
Superb! And the character of Gobar played by Atul Kulkarni, Check out his scene with Pawan Malhotra near the climax, where he explains why he takes 2 one rupee coins instead of a 10 ruppee note… a scene which brought instant whistle and claps from the crowd!
And finally the character of the untouchable Jalebi, played by Divya Dutta with an immense improvement in her acting skills and this coupled with some good selection of movies and roles, this girl is taking gaint strides in the industry,
At the point of interval you have laughed, clapped, enjoyed so much that you tend to forget where the story is heading, all these seemingly independent sub plots are all brought together during the second half of the film, which is where it goes a little haywire and lacks the finish if I use that word of Mehra’s earlier work.
The concept of Kala Bandar to show the dark side of us humans is a good concept, but it doesn’t come out as powerfully as it could have … infact I would say should have, Also the Love story between Abhishek and Sonam is half cooked!
The Biggest asset of the movie apart from its MUSIC which is SUBLIME, is the way it captures the soul of Dilli, The people, the language, the little nuances are on the spot! Be it the typical Deekilooo… Karliooo, or phrases like Ben de Tanne…, Tu Jaane mein kaun hoon?Are all SADDI DILLI SPECIAL! *
Performance wise, there are no stand out performances apart from the ones mentioned above, everyone else does their bit perfectly, one personal grudge, I wish Rishi kapoor had a bigger role. Abhishek is neat and doesn’t go overboard with his American accent, or in any of his emotional or comedy scenes, His expression of love for bittu is subtle an abhi jr is brilliant at that! Sonam kappoor looks WOW! Very very sweet, wish she also had a bigger role.
As a wrap I would just like to say, Go watch Delhi 6, watch it not because it’s from the director of RDB, watch it not because there is a social message, watch it not because its about Delhi or anything… watch it because its an Entertaining Light Hearted Comedy with a Simple Message