Many had high expectations from Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra who had made the trend-setting Rang De Basanti. His latest offering Delhi 6 is unadulterated boredom. Delhi 6 has a plot similar to Ashutosh Gowariker’s charming movie Swades. While Swades was cute and progressive to an extent, Delhi 6 chugs along slowly and is sadly regressive. Also the director in Delhi 6 deals with a lot of things, which is why he loses track most of the time.
Story of Delhi 6: There are quite a few stories running parallel as the movie takes you on a documentary style tour through the bylanes of Delhi. There are two warring brothers Om Puri and Pawan Malhotra who are at loggerheads with each other. Ompuri has a daughter Bittu (Sonam Kapoor) whom he wants to marry off at the earliest. Sonam Kapoor however nurses an ambition to go to Mumbai to participate in Indian Idol. We have Abhishek Bachchan playing Roshan who has come from the US to take his terminally ill mother back to the States.
There is also an untouchable played by Divya Dutta who has an opinion on all and sundry. There is plot of the money lender(Prem Chopra)’s wife who is sleeping around with a debtor played by Cyrus Sahukar. There is Rishi Kapoor who gives preachy sermons on how to love and lead life. He is a failed lover who still pins for Tanvi Azmi. In the midst of all this, there is a fictitious monkey-man(Kaala Bandhar) who is creating havoc in the town. Roshan is exposed to a lot of customs, orthodox conventions and superstitions during his stay. He has to take the decision to really take his mother to the US or stay home with his beloved Sonam Kapoor. Meanwhile, the so called kaala bandhar has created so much tension in Delhi 6 (Chandni Chowk) that there is a near riot between Hindus and Muslims. Do you really think, you can do justice to all these stories in a matter of 2 hour and 20 minutes. ?
Technicalities of Delhi 6: With all three talented people Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Prasoon Joshi, Kamlesh Pandey at the helm, it was expected the writing would be great. But sadly, with probably all three giving inputs, the screenplay falls flat and becomes really boring and complicated. Rang De Basanti, the director’s previous outing had one of the best screenplays ever in Bollywood history. Delhi 6 is a huge let down as far as editing and screenplay is concerned.
There are some scenes which just stop abruptly and there are some which drag unnecessarily Rakheysh Omprakash Mehra appears to be a confused director in Delhi 6. The whole deal about the monkey-man as a metaphor seems far-fetched out of place. Chandni Chowk is a town, not some conservative, orthodox village. You can't expect Abhishek Bachchan to be the only broadminded person there.
Plus points of Delhi 6:
1. Beautiful screen presence of Sonam Kapoor. She really looks cute and her costume designer deserves a thumbs-up.
2. The ‘masakali’ and the ‘Dil Mera’ picturization has been creatively shot
3. Absorbing post interval only to fizzle out in the end.
Minus points of Delhi 6
1. Absolutely slow and sluggish plot development in the beginning, and a weak, stupid end
2. The director takes on more than he can chew.
3. The Ram Leela sequences, which are one too many; infused with regularity only to slow down the already lethargic pace.
4. The end makes you scream at the writers. Abhishek Bachchan dies and goes to heaven where he meets papa(Amitabh Bachchan of course). Big B sends him back to earth and Abhishek Bachchan is saved. Oh my! Lord of Lords. You cannot make a bigger blunder than that! In fact, frankly when Abhishek Bachchan is mistakenly killed, it created some sort of impact. But then the next thing, you know he is resurrected!
5. Distinct similarity to Swades. There are a couple of scenes, especially when Sonam Kapoor is supposed to meet her prospective bridegroom and also towards the end when Abhishek has to take his mother back to the US, that give you a feeling of déjà vu.
6. The title song of Delhi 6 is curtailed. There could be other parts snipped instead.
Performances of Delhi 6:
Abhishek Bachchan does not get in right for Delhi 6, his accent sounds made-up. Sonam Kapoor is the most endearing part of Delhi 6. Her enthusiasm in ‘masaakali’ song is laudable. However, she could have done better. In the climax scene, when she breaks down, the entire theatre broke into laughter. Rishi Kapoor’s character is poorly developed. Atul Kulkarni should not have done the role, the movie reduces him to nothing.Vijay Raaz, Divya Dutta, and Om Puri are the only ones who impress. Delhi 6 has Amitabh Bachchan’s career-worst special appearance.
Final conclusion: Delhi 6 puts you to sleep. By the time, we left the movie theatre, two people were already catching their 40 winks.
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