Delhi 110006

I am huge fan of realistic cinema particularly the feel good ones. Delhi - 6 almost belonged to that category, specially when I could relate much more to it because of my three golden years in the city. It could draw an analogy to a well crafted dish, very delectable base in form of purani dilli, carefully chosen ingredients as exceptionally brilliant actors cooked just right in their meaty characters, smart screenplay and music formed the essential spices and condiments, just that while this entire ensemble was almost to be removed from the heat to be served, the chef (director) realized he forgot the nutrients and poured a bottle of vitamin pills and virtually destroyed the preparation.

Like every profession in India Hindi film industry has long been shadowed by families and formulaes. Past half a decade has seen a renaissance with talented professionals venturing into Film industry in all its domains, Khosla ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky!, Rang De Basanti, Seher and Manorama to name a few stand as testimony to it. It also came across as shift from the Mumbai centric approach of Hindi cinema which now focused on most populous belts of its audience i.e. Delhi, UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, MP. Delhi - 6 came as a fresh installment in the sequence of Delhi (North) based flicks after Lakshya, Rang De Basanti, Khosla ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky...

I have lived in Delhi - 47 for three years, and ventured out to Delhi - 6 many a times mostly for books at the lively Naee Sadak area near Chandni Chowk, so I could relate to most of the characters at a personal level. The standard issue NRI with accented English replies to vernacular conversations, the next door neighbour showoff mid aged Dilli waala, the thulla (Police man) with that inscrutable jaat accent, The aunties and bhabhis which make love very tangible in form of laddus and jalebis, the two kids, the lower caste kachre waali. All of them made me feel like I was thrown back in time to my days in the capital. Although a bit cosmetic in stereotyping few characters, it could pull it off with lively dialogues and brilliant cinematography. Pieces of ginger are usually added to preparations to add that surprise tinge when the base taste goes bland, Delhi - 6 had that similar ginger in form of its dialogues, every time it felt as if it was going nowhere, came a smart line which added tinge to the experience.

The movie had some memorable highs, dialogues like "Aji, bhookh mitane ke liye to kutte khate hain, insaan khate hain dil jodne ke liye" or the panoramic view of jumme ki namaz at Jama Masjid with qawwali as background were unforgettable. The very homely and cute Rama bua (Aditi Rao), the jalebi guy who believed in Bajrang bali despite being a Muslim, the respect that the old ladies (chachi) enjoy were all well fused in the movie. Music of A R Rehman came across as one of the high points of the movie, however some of the songs were more apt to Chennai - 26 than Delhi - 6, but he pulled it off with use of local instruments and voices in songs Genda Phool and Masakalli, both choreographed exceptionally well. Some smart messages like hum sab bhagwaan pe chhod dete hain, khud kucch nahi karenge which was the essence of that Sanskrit shlok about deer doesn't walk into sleeping lion's mouth, provoked some thought and pride in vedic teachings.

Having enjoyed the first half solely for its music, characters and setup, I expected the story of the movie to go somewhere in the second half, that is something I regret expecting. I could draw parallels with the director's previous flick "Rang De..", both had realistic setups, good actors and a social message, however in the previous movie the message was built up throughout the entire movie, Delhi - 6 converged to the social message read social preaching very fast towards the end with no built up in uniformity. Oversimplifying the hindu muslim rift to a misunderstanding and the animal inside us, almost questioning the intelligence of generations of Indians. Another place it fumbled was maintaining the balance between bashing hindus and muslims it subtly tilted towards the left leaning anti hindu.

All said and done, it would be hard for any Mumbaikar who have spent all their lives in "flats" to relate to interconnected one floor homes, the liveliness of Delhi. Something similar happened with Khosla ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky!.. add to it the very weak last 30 min, it came across as non-universal appeal cinema. Despite that, the 60 or so minutes of smile that the work gave me were worth the money, if you are remotely related to the northern belt and can relate to it, don't miss it.