Delhi 6

Rang De basanti (RDB)- is one of my favourite movies and with high expectations and trust in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra- I booked my tickets for Delhi-6.

I have been to Delhi-6 (Old Delhi area) and have always been amazed at the whole topography of the area, amazing structures and awesome food. It is a place every foodie has to visit at least thrice in this life time (you can never cover the area in one time!!)

I was very inquisitive to see how Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra would get into the spirit of Old Delhi- Kudos to him, he does with oomph!

Delhi-6 is a story with a moral- and is based on a very basic plot. Abhishek (half-Hindu half-Muslim boy) gets his

Granny (Waheda) to India from NY, as its her last wish to visit India. In the process the guy falls in love and experiences the super life and characters of “Delhi-6”.

The director knows each and every actor of the movie and has extracted the max out of each one of them. Let me directly list down the cons and pros of the movie

Cons- Motorola placement- too much emphasis on Abhisheks phone. Am sure Motorola paid a bomb!. Kala Bandar- black monkey scare is taken to a different height and juiced to the extreme. I agree the Kala Bandar is critical to the plot- but it kinda gets to your nerves. Too much focus on Ram leela, which was not needed, it distracts the viewer from the main plot and it just takes up too much screen time. Too much special fx- in the ram leela, one of the car driving scenes is just so artificial, the Statue of Liberty, etc. The climax scene was believable and nice in a way- till the introduced Amitabh Bachan and heaven- what was the director thinking!!!

Pros- Amazing performances – watch out for Waheda Rehman super classy acting!! This lady is back with a bang!! Sonam is a delight; she expresses a range of emotions without going over the top. Her dance scenes for the India Idol audition tapes are tooo good!! She does even better than Abishek in this movie- watch out for this girl. Deepak Dobriyal as the Muslim Jaleebi seller- is amazing with his expressions- he gets totally into the character and you can relate to him – as one sees many like him in the real Delhi-6. Atul Kulkarni is classic as always- acts like a dump/smart Hindu guy called Gobar in the movie- the climax is his canvas. Rishi Kapoor, Pavan Malhotra, Om Puri and Prem Chopra all fit their role extremely well.

Special mention for Vijay Raaz (the monsoon wedding guy) for his super portrayal of the delhi cop!!! He essays the role of “I am the law” to perfection and man! he knows how to slap- just like the delhi cops. His dialogues are laced with Haryanivi but the dialogue delivery is extremely super!. One must not forget Divya Dutta who plays the role of a low cast sweeper, her gaali’s have increased my vocab several notches!! Her get up and make up is damn real- no one could have done a better job.

So net-net great performances- amazing cinematography and screen play. Super music- especially Masakali, Delhi 6 and Daas gaali deve ( watch how Abhishek jams with Waheda in this song- one of great moments in the movie)

The movie will appeal to Delhi for sure and in patches- every part of India – as the movie has an urban and rural feel to it + an expat touch- to appeal to the international audience. It will do well, as its a near perfect film- I will leave it with a 3 out of 5.