Delhi 6 : Jab teri gali aaya…
Few weeks back, I discovered the whole legend thing, the whole monkey thing, one fine morning. And I went where was I when all this happened? Sat over it, read some articles, wrote an article, moved on.
Delhi 6. The music was all over…jab teri gali aaya….sach tabhi nazar aayaa…
We went berserk. I took pleasure in dust. All things un-beautiful. All tales un-told. A weird obsession for Mughlai.
Rakesh Omprakash Mehra. Rang de basanti. Revolution. In more senses than one. A new way to look at the craft. The formula of writing. Screenplay laws. What would work. What would not. Rang de basanti again. A film that went wherever it could. All around. That was around 2006. We didn’t have many options. The film, predictably, went beyond being a film, and Mehra gained recognition here and beyond.
Cut to 2009. Mehra goes to Chandni Chowk. And we again went berserk. Too much Delhi in films. Exotica thy name is Slumdog Millionnaire. The story got suspended somewhere. Another phenomenon took over. AR Rahman. Nothing could hold him. He became bigger than the films.
So much was on stake. And amidst all this there were rumors. As all rumors are, logical and illogical at times.
Delhi 6 is here to stay. Where RDB was topical and had a blatant self-convinced voice, Delhi 6 meanders, loses itself, finds its voice, reconfirms it, looks skywards, looks sideways, then pulls up a dirty mirror from somewhere and finds itself. As stereotypical as it sounds. For once, you are left feeling mushy. About being yourself. About the streets. About things around, in general.
The film opens up to the NY streets. There is a conflict. As you all can predict, granny is sick, laadla pota agrees to travel to Delhi 6, get her reassured in the land her soul resides. Pota is bewildered, overwhelmed, shocked, amazed, sparkled, awed, all that comes along with a routine culture shock. It is as commonplace as the next season of Indian Idol.
Mehra opens us up to Delhi 6 in all its pronounced glory, as flashy as it gets, characters appear like over-frothed draught on tap, and it is a POV of India from the eyes that never saw it before. Predictable. So far.
Ek khushboo aati thi
Main bhatakta jaata tha
Reshmi si maaya thi
Aur main takta jaata tha
There is religion, there is a mohalle ki chhori, there is a Jalebi analogy(sab Jalebi khaate hain, par munh koi nahi lagaata), there is a quintessential Mohalla Jagran Committee, lots of wasted aimless characters lost in oblivion yet alive in their moments. As it happens in any Muhalla. No surprises.
Somewhere along all this, the film begins to register. The shot where a chaabi ka guchchha opens a dust ridden ancestral home, and we see familiar things, things out of order. Then some very random cuts, black-outs, the Ramayan analogy(a daring element indeed, much thanks to the soulful rustic mood the voice of Raghubir Yadav creates, as we are taken through the stage drama of mythology, quite juxtaposed to the off-stage drama of Delhi 6, both equally appealing in its dramatic appeal, must I say), almost feels like here is a celebration of symbolism, of camera angles, of Rahman’s mystic melodies, of the dream cast, an extravagant, exhortative trip down Dilli 6 lane.
The entire mood is so joyous, the vibe so in your face, you hardly are conscious of the film technique, who cares if a song is cut in half, who cares if we didn’t get the expected entry of the hero, who cares if the much applauded darker treatment doesn’t come knocking your door, who cares….oh I am sorry, I forgot to mention the Kaala Bandar.
I felt Mehra’s mastery lies in this approach. He paints a controversy for you, gives you enough dope to get high on, triggers your Aaj Tak quotient(even if you don’t have one), and leaves you stranded. Something OLLO failed to do, albeit by a small margin.
It is quite like Roshan playing pool with Rishi Kapoor’s character in some neglected corner of the old town while a TV channel rolls out the truth of their times, happening right next door, a brilliant definitive sequence indeed.
And that is the beauty here. Of Mehra’s cinema. He rises above the visible fable, the bookish protagonist in search of his roots, lost in its pleasures, reveling in the quest, and all this while clicking and recording all that amazes him happening right in front of his eyes.
And then the pigeons. If you remember I have already used the word symbolism. So ya, the rooftop afternoons, spiced up by folklores and ethnic raps, a low angle vision, a wide angle panorama, the world at your feet kinds. Like Gulzar saahab put it so effortlessly, khali bore dupahri se….
And then the poetry. Each phrase, each verse echoes in your head. And you realize you missed on some dialogs. Oh what a deceit!
Zarre zarre mein usee ka noor hai
Jhaank khud mein woh na tujhse door hai
Ishq hai usse to sabse ishq kar
is ibaadat ka yahi dastoor hai
Is mein us mein aur… us mein hai wohi
Is mein us mein aur… us mein hai wohi
Yaar mera har taraf bharpoor hai ..
The erratic camera(the eternal retinal twist in the narrative eye, the spice of a script, the passion of a writer, the love of a chronicler) keeps you confused, you wait for the songs, they satisfy your poetic urges sometimes while receding into quieter unexplained interludes other times. Abhishek Bachchan plays the perfect foil, where a rollercoaster ride of epic cast enthralls you with their rehearsed approach and ease of craft.
Another big pat on the back for Mehra is that he gives this generation its own posterboy mohalla film of its own. For all those who missed on the Saleem Langde era, no you won’t be fully redeemed, but like I said, you can put up a poster of Pawan Malhotra and its inspired-as-ever mannerism. Ain’t I glad at this!
And then, there is the proverbial brick in the wall, the glow of the aarti, the old radio which refuses to reconcile with its failed past, lazy mornings, the pipedream of the erstwhile city, the nostalgia is so heavy, it refuses to let in the funk at more times than one. You will see when the sounds of Delhi 6 give away to a reverberating Maula when you leave the theater.
And then there is Dil gira kahin par dafatan. I must say I am not fond of the whole Slumdog wave, and I also feel its time we move on, but Dafatan had me by the claws. Quite literally. See it to believe it types. And catch it before it fades, in the grand ROM style.
Then there is the lost love, haveli analogy. Rishi Kapoor stands tall. In one remarkable dialog, he sums up the India the film is trying to paint for you.
Toot ke bikharna mujhko zaroor aata hai
Har nayi ibaadat waala shahoor aata hai
Sazde mein rehne do ab kahin na jaaoonga
Ab jo tumne thukraaya to sanwar na paaoonga
Another aspect I was thankful about was the end note, it is not Discover India, it is Discover Yourself, Get Serious!
In all this haze and something we can gladly called the aftertaste of a film that refused to find its way, I might have missed on many a important points, like the picture perfect Sonam Kapoor, a delightful Cyrus, and a wonder of wonders Atul Kulkarni, Deepak Dobriyal, Waheeda Rahman, Tanvi Azmi, and a host of wonderful actors, all adding to the world of Delhi 6, richer by the reel. But Delhi 6 remains a poetically etched memory on screen.
This one is for the love, and this one is for the moonlit nights and the starry skies that never were.
Daraarein daraarein hain maathe pe maula…
Marammat muqaddar ki kar de maula…
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
Discover yourself, get serious… yeah.
Again, whats with the meandering writing – mirroring the film? And where is Rehna tu? Kidding… thanks for the insight, now I shall watch first day.
So, you are sold, tell me… did he over do it? RDB he did… I love Kamlesh Pandey’s writing… tell me he did not over do it.
Tushar, as Abhishek says get real couple of times, I would say get real. No offenses bro. U r too much into the songs to see beyond it… They worked when I listened to them but they were so absurdly place. ROPM isn’t a very outstanding director.Period.
Something which I wrote:
The infamous ‘Monkey-Man’ that created a menace in Delhi few years back is the central character. Others are just highly irritating, supporting cast. There are so many characters that director is busy introducing them right till the end. Zoya recently showed truck loads of them but you can identify them and remember them in LBC. In this case, you get assaulted. There is nothing that you carry when you walk out. Music? Yes, to an extent. The music no doubt is outstanding one, this truth is already established. But, the songs are placed so absurdly you almost feel sorry for A.R. Rehman. ‘Rehna tu’ in particular (which is a soft romantic number) will disappoint you the most.
ROPM tried to preach us the lesson of unity in diversity but he failed. Abhishek and Sonam’s much talked of chemistry is invisible. Bilkul thanda, barf jaisa. It is sad to watch artists like Sheeba, Supriya, Om Puri, Pavan Malhotra, Rishi Kapoor being wasted. Mass assassination. And the preaching that every human has monkey inside along with the god doesn’t go down well. I did not feel for any character or situation. Waheeda’s stubbornness of not returning to Amrika gets a jolt when her grand-son yells at her and she gets teary-eyed. I did not feel sympathetic towards her. Abhishek gets shot. I did not care whether he lives or die. Sonam who looks gorgeous in any outfit is totally wasted. She gets to howl again like Saawariya in the end and this time it’s for real yet I did not feel anything for her. Few scenes here and there brings in some moments but then that’s long forgotten by the time you try to finally listen to Mr. Director and look for monkey inside you. But it’s too late by then and the show is over.
@ravptor, ya man, he insanely overdid it, and ain’t I glad for that!
@Vee, “U r too much into the songs to see beyond it… ”
ignorance is bliss!
The music is PHENEMONAL but there’s a bit too much Kaala Bandar going on for my liking.
That said, i fell in love with the way it’s shot.
Will probably see it again :-)
Tushar!
any dope on Bhardwatching? kaisa raha? do shabd kripya!
Ignorance indeed is bliss and that’s why I ignored the fact that this was made by ROPM. I will give him one last chance.
yeh huye na baat…rehna tu hai jaisa tu!!
The movie was a mess so to say … and the worst part of it was the ending half an hour …
who would have thought that a movie about delhi would turn into a comedy show with some serious moments filled in the middle.
after all it was a disaster when i went into the theaters with the expectation of another RDB …
looks like people are right ….
“everyday is not a sunday”
i think the movie makers should throw away the GHAMAND of RDB and make something sensible the next time.
ditto tushar ..i was blown away by .fantastic movie …but ppl around me thought i was crazy …….every performance was amazing …deepak dobriyal, vijay raaz and Atul kulkarni were mind blowing …….and the cinematography..wah….i seriously dont know why people couldn’t see what i saw …
@Santosh, Kaminey ka kya boloon yaar, phoenixnu said it, I too was blown away, never expected I would want to watch Shahid, jeez. Things cinema does.
@phoenixnu, mora piya ghar aaya!
@Anand, people see too much ‘in’ a film at times.
“aao hum sheesha dekhen
usme sandesha dekhen
apna ghayal hissa dekhen
apna asli kissa dekhen..”
for once I had no problems with being preached. so many things have been coming back to me. need to watch it again soon.
Discover India, it is Discover Yourself, Get Serious! Thtat point and this song is driving me very sincere towards life.
very well written….yet to catch the film:)
http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/85912/02_2009/notes_delhi6_3/notes-of-delhi6-making-of-the-films-music.html
Whenever I see the making-of-the-music and I hear the unplugged voices – I am pissed off to no ends. Especially whenever I have heard Mr A R Rehman, I feel – What the %$#@ !!! Is he the same maestro ?????? I really pity the todays singers who “sing in sur” with the aid of the current technological advances !!!
@Sulakshana, thanks!
@kcp, that making is a unique and nice attempt man.
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
Tushar, that exposes the quality of singers ( including ARR ) that we currently have, man !!
Its very sad to see them singing unplugged.