Delhi 6: Postcode for Simple Nostalgia and Messages
Basking in the success of Rang De Basanti (RDB), Rakesh Omprakash Mehra decided to indulge in some nostalgia. Great films have come out of nostalgia, and Delhi with its old world charm (imagined and real), invites one to explore its narrow lanes that carry quaint names, to seek stories hiding behind high walls and close-set windows, and to regret the loss of a way of life as old as the precariously hanging wrought iron balconies.
Mehra’s memory of his early years in old Delhi serves him well in getting several elements right. He warmly recreates public spaces of old Delhi where a democratic co-existence of sorts exist, be it hand carts, cycle rikshaws, motorcycles, tongas and luxury cars all laying claim to the same tight space and at the same time. Here the quickest way to the hospital could well be a cycle rickshaw, where the traffic and every other business can wait to witness a cow delivering a calf. He also displays the delicately balanced coexistence of communities where a Muslim confectioner is acceptable but a dalit Hindu cleaner is an outcaste, where temples face mosques, and where Ramlila is an occasion to indulge in spirituality, but also in gossip and politics. It is a place where the local thanedaar rules and rumours bridge the gap between fiction and reality.
But memories are for memoirs. And in their broken, tinted, dissociated forms they are at best like dough, waiting to be shaped into a meaningful story. The difficulty with Delhi 6 is that it is a collection of images. Mehra uses an entire first half of the film for a ‘winter-afternoon-on-the-terrace’ reverie. People hug each other, eat jalebis, fly kites; children play gulli cricket and smoke in dark alleys; women make pickles and sing songs. Only towards the interval point and in the beginning of second half of the film you do realize that many early scenes were set ups and they start to acquiesce meanings. But then I found the meanings (the pay offs) to be equally problematic if not more – the ensemble of images, characters and moments now yield a simplistic tale of importance of communal harmony and killing your inner demons. So the protagonist, Roshan (Abhishek Bachchan) ends up playing Christ-like martyr and enlightens people that there are gods and monkeys (devils) inside everybody. And if you kill this monkey (Ravan) things will be fine again.
I suspect the ‘success of message’ in RDB, obliged Mehra to belt out another strong one this time. The similarities with Mehra’s much celebrated Rang De Basanti are uncanny. Here again the narrator arrives from abroad, interacts with half-a-dozen characters (strongly defined, with well-built character graphs), identify a problem and help set the house in order. In RDB, Mehra had successfully intertwined the reel and real lives of his characters and here too he tries to a similar thing by inter-cutting the narrative with Ramlila that is being staged in the neighbourhood and the news clips of an ‘invisible’ monkey man that has caused menace in the walled city.
But the artistic device that had heightened the drama in RDB fails to launch or at least work to give the same impact as in RDB. The Ramlila episodes don’t do much for the narrative, because the references and associations made are too simplistic. On the other hand, the ‘monkey man’ episode constantly being reported on television provides the ‘farcical’ thread to the film’s narrative and, in my opinion, is one of the best aspects of film, both at the narrative level and as a cinematic language. I can only wish that the lightheartedness this aspect of the film provided was not compromised with heavy handed and staged ‘preachings’ towards the end.
An ensemble of characters (played by talents like OM PURI, DIVYA DUTTA, Pavan Malhotra Deepak Dobriyal, Atul Kulkarni, Vijay Raaz, Cyrus Sahukar, even Rishi Kapoor) fill up the screen and just about all actors are in good form and give credible performances, and this is a major strength for the film. Abhishek Bachchan carries a calm and likeable presence (so much so that the director forces his own hands to rescue him from the dead in the end). Sonam Kapoor looks ravishing if underused.
A.R. Rahman background score is ‘regular’ music. The best song of the film Genda phool looks out of place in the film (a UP song bursting in the middle of nowhere), as do all the early songs (however, the song where Roshan mixes Delhi and New York in his head is conceptually and visually noteworthy). Binod Pradhan’s photography is first-rate and strikes a balance between giving a realist feel with good looking frames.
Delhi 6 is an honest effort but ends up as an immature indulgence in nostalgia with simplistic ‘live-in-harmony’ messages.
-Padmaja Thakore
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
“the song where Roshan mixes Delhi and New York in his head is conceptually and visually noteworthy”
that song is called ‘Dil gira kahin par, Dafatan” :-)
This was my second visit to the film in two days and I enjoyed it better the second time around.
‘Delhi 6′ is a unique film. Authentic and timeless. Faultless and sincere. It is a mirror on todays society, its complications and its frailties. It addresses cultures and beliefs, human nature and influences. Despite all the posturing it is never in your face with psuedo sincere monologues, or played to the gallery expositions. There is just enough – subtle, restrained and eloquent all in one.
I am most impressed with the film. I am most impressed with the nuances that it has presented, both in structure and performance. Every character so beautifully cast and etched. Every dialogue, sufficient and effective. Brevity never sounded more sincere than it did in Delhi 6 and it echoed through out, just as dominantly as the voices of the lead pair under the Taj Mahal dome in Agra.
The mirror to society is cleverly, even physically demonstrated through the ‘mad’ baba, who maniacally keeps appearing in the streets holding up a mirror to the characters in the film. It is the basis of the theme of the film. Look into the mirror it says and you shall discover that somewhere in a corner of your being you know that there is no space for hatred and malice. Discord and retaliation. Anger and violence…
‘zarre zarre mein usika noor hai,
jhaankh khud mein wo na tujhase door hai..’
In every little particle there is the goodness of His presence. Look into yourself, it is not far from you.
Hatred and discord are formed by circumstances not of our reckoning. But when presented with motive they begin to destroy not just yourself but other innocents as well. If we were to share the love only that lay cuddled in a corner of our hearts, what a wonderful world this universe would be.
And this from an Indian born American, coming to his Motherland to escort his grandmother, because she wants to spend her last days in her place of birth, is the revelation.
Communities in Chandni Chowk, or Delhi 110006, the postal code of the city, now referred to commonly as Delhi 6, live in secular belief, harmony and practice. Their peace is being broken by this mysterious black beast that attacks people in the dark of the night – a factual incident that took place in old Delhi some years ago. No one was able to see it or catch it, but regularly its victims increased. This has been symbolically taken into the story of the film as being that hidden black monkey within all of us. That conscience which governs and runs us.
To me the credit title roll, the time when the audience gets up and leaves, is the most poignant moment in the film. Credit titles on one end and a blank mirror at the other end of the screen, form the visual. And one by one the characters in the film come and stand to look at themselves. And after pondering at it for an extended period of time, change their nature through expression, conveying that they have all realized the presence of this symbolic black monkey within. It is cinema at its best.
Indian popular cinema has through years and years established a given format of creativity and success. The audience has been bludgeoned into believing this escapist extended culture to be the accepted norm. This is how people live and survive, eat and dress, sing and dance. It is a fantasticised escapist realization. And its repeated acceptance qualifies itself as recognized entertainment. Any deviation from it is considered sub standard or with blemish.
In the middle of all this comes a truer film. Closer to the earth, realistic yet having the strains of commerce and it poses a vicious challenge. You cannot criticize it, for, its theme preaches love and abolition of hatred. It is devoid of the typical ’snap your finger and a hundred dancers in some elaboration appear almost ghost like and sing and dance to their merriment’ satraps. The location cannot be discussed – it is factually there and prospering. Music, an intrinsic part of our film, is the best that AR has done in many years, yet it is not stage designed as items.
Delhi 6 is that film that I find hard to criticize. I cannot put my finger on it and neither can I withdraw.
Someone yesterday made an interesting comment. Films today are subjected to so much marketing and promotion, it seems almost embarrassing to say that the film did not work.
If so..
It will be embarrassing for me to say the film did not work ; and I have not yet been subjected to any marketing and promotion.
Amazing movie. The message in the film was delivered without being overly preachy. I would call it a satire and a slice of life movie. The characters seemed so real. The best part abt the movie is that the director has focussed on the ensemble cast and not only on lead actors. all in all a very good movie.
Nice review. Agree.
great review padmaja. i really agree with your contention that the film finds very easy solutions. you are so right about RDB being a better film where the present bravery was anchored in a real past but here roshan is so preachy and above it all!! what is the source of his wisdom? why is he so damn superior to all the others? it is a very patronizing film…
i liked this movie….nd m gonna watch it again.the best part of movie was its humor and the way rakesh creted a plot for each scene of the 2nd half right from the begining of 1st half….good movie could have been made great movie….
Dilli-6 might seem immature to many , but its more mature then RDB.Rather RDB was about the immature decision of young and restless to avenge the death of their frnd and then wat they dint changed the mindset of anyone, it was sort of falied and irrational step.
Dilli-6 is about sufiyat, not abt any religion . It is about the essense of this country not just dilli. There are so many places where people live happily until they dont look themselves as hindu,muslim or any other religious person.
Go to jama masjid area in night in ramzaan , you will feel there is diwali and eid together.Eat at karims and u wont feel anything else except gud food and fragrance in air.
I have never seen any hardcore religous person happy in my life , they are always scared of others.They waste all there lives hating people rather then courage to love. Seeing them sometimes makes me wonder is really there can be a GOD who has made them , I dont get any answer.
See this movie once as a human being.Its a genuine effort.You can choose wether its gud or bad for you.
Some on who watched this movie without looking too much into metaphors like mirror or Kaala Bandar,it was a disappointing film.As such I knew that it was the story of coming back to roots NRI stuff and expected the usual cliches and I was right,the usual no water in tap,warring relatives,middle class girl who do not want to get married and want to do something in life stuff,Hndu-Musilm brotherhood stuff,inspite of all this oft repeated things I still expected to see something new about Delhi but it was not to be.My main complaint about this movie is that it speaks of a subject which has been handled many times before,but then even if the subject is old wine in new bottle,at least u expect some good writing,something original that was not to be.But some scenes from this film impressed me like those Religious dramas,the way media was going mad about Kaala Bandhar and people’s exaggerated version of their encounter with Bandhar