Delhi-6 (Mehra, 2009)

[sandeep]

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, the director who gave us Aks and the much acclaimed Rang de Basanti, is ready with his 3rd offering, Dilli 6.

Starring Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor (who has kept a low profile since Saawariya), the film was unveiled at the DIFF this year. Check out their visit to Dubai on the following link:

http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/features/2008/12/16/4622/index.html

The film is slated for release on February 20th, 2009.

[sandeep]

kaytee shariq anyone? reviews? I havent seen it yet, will do so in the weekend...

[sandeep]

new and better poster

[kaytee]

Im not going to bother. Some friends saw it and were really kind to it.

[shariqq]

Kaytee - do bother. The writing is awesome. Apart from the usual Bollywood Melodrama towards the end (very like his Rang De Basanti), Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra makes a wonderful movie.

And luckily, I saw it in Delhi!

[sandeep]

i was hoping shariqq would give his thoughts on this... saw it yesterday... more later...

[sandeep]

Armed with the baggage of mixed reviews I walked in to a half full cinema, who were, thankfully, not a noisy lot...

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

So the movie begins, with some different camera work, nice music by A.R.Rahman, and Abhishek's decision to bring his grandma Waheeda Rahman to Delhi. They reach India and are welcomed by the news of the 'kaala bandar', black monkey, who is creating havoc in certain neighbourhoods in Delhi. This weird angle is used to move the story along.

Abhishek, who had come just to drop his grandma, sticks around for longer, liking certain things about his life in Delhi, and not expressing much of his dislikes. Lots of little stories and themes are touched upon in the first half, which seems like somebody has put a camera in the homes of people and we get to see their daily lives in Chandni Chowk. No one's character is explored so much as that of Delhi and Chandni Chowk itself, which seems to get overbearing at times.

In Rang de Basanti he weaved the stories of the freedom fighters in India with current day scenarios, and in this film he used the Ram Leela to give a backdrop of good vs. evil, and more importantly the evil within us all

The first half is quite flat with the second half having more turmoil and drama, and some rather fast transformations without any reasons. This is what left me confused. I tried hard to connect with the film but failed to do so.

The message in the end is noteworthy. but why the film was made this way, how long it took to arrive at this conclusion, are questions left unanswered.

*** SPOILERS END***

All in all, I cannot recommend this movie to everyone, but it is different, and I saw it simply because of the Director. Abhishek does a fair job, Sonam Kapoor does not have much of a role. The other characters (too many of them) lend able support, but the story itself is not strong enough.

2/5

[ayaa1977]

I saw it in theatre. It was entertaining, and it had some clever shots, but it was predictable, and a bit longer than it should have been.. the songs varied from dull to average In a side note, that Kapoor girl is gorgeous! I agree with Sandeep rating, may be I will add another half . 2.5/5